The sentinel or tumor-draining lymph node (tdLN) serves as a metastatic niche for many solid tumors and is altered via tumor-derived factors that support tumor progression and metastasis. tdLNs are often removed surgically, and therapeutic vaccines against tumor antigens are typically administered systemically or in non-tumor-associated sites. Although the tdLN is immune-suppressed, it is also ...

Malignant transformation of cells is frequently associated with HLA class I antigen downregulation or loss. This abnormality provides malignant cells with a mechanism to escape control by HLA class I antigen-restricted, tumor antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Surprisingly, HLA class I antigen downregulation or loss by tumor cells is not associated with control of tumor growth by natural...

tumor angiogenesis shown by microvessel count (mvc) or microvessel density (mvd), is assessed by several studies as prognostic factor in some types of tumors, and also in colorectal carcinoma. this article is payed to correlation between clincopathologic factors and tumor angiogenesis. in this study, immunohistochemical techniques are used for vascular evaluation in specimens from twenty-nine c...

Dendritic cells (DCs) serve as professional antigen-presenting cells and are pivotal in the host immune response to tumor antigens. To define the pathways limiting DC function in the tumor microenvironment, we assessed the impact of tumor cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 expression on DC activities. Bone marrow-derived DCs were cultured in either tumor supernatant (TSN) or TSN from COX-2-inhibited tumors...

Glycopeptides with TN antigen (GalNAc)Ser/Thr and T-antigen structures (beta Gall-3GalNAc)Ser/Thr, described as tumor-associated antigens, were synthesized and coupled to bovine serum albumin. Alternatively, synthetic methods for the construction of beta-anomeric analogues of the TN and T-antigen glycopeptides were developed, aiming at antigenic structures having a varied stereochemistry of the...

Cell therapy with lymphocytes is an attractive approach for cancer immunotherapy. Methods to generate ex vivo effector cells directed against whole autologous tumor antigens are under investigation. Our procedure involved stimulation of autologous lymphocytes with antigen-pulsed dendritic cells (DC). Experimental conditions were established with DC, matured with TNFa, LPS and CD40L, from health...

Effective cancer treatment to prevent the tumor growth as well as to stop its recurrence is the dream of oncologists. Currently available therapeutic measures like, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, often suffer from severe toxicity and lack of specificity of the drug towards tumor cells. Another promising approach is the 'immunotherapy', in which either the immune system is activated by tumor vac...

Anti-tumor immunity can eliminate existing cancer cells and also maintain a constant surveillance against possible relapse. Such an antigen-specific adaptive response begins when tumor-specific T cells become activated. T-cell activation requires two signals on antigen presenting cells (APCs): antigen presentation through major histocombatibility complex (MHC) molecules and co-stimulation. In t...

Immunological unresponsiveness established by the elimination or anergy of self-reactive lymphocyte clones is of importance to immunization against tumor-associated antigens. In this study, we have investigated induction of immunity against the human MUC1 carcinoma-associated antigen in MUC1 transgenic mice unresponsive to MUC1 antigen. Immunization of adult MUC1 transgenic mice with irradiated...

Thomsen-Friedenreich (TF) antigen belongs to the mucin-type tumor-associated carbohydrate antigen. Notably, TF antigen is overexpressed in colorectal cancer (CRC) but is rarely expressed in normal colonic tissue. Increased TF antigen expression is associated with tumor invasion and metastasis. In this study, we sought to validate a novel nanobeacon for imaging TF-associated CRC in a preclinical...