Development of Membrane-Bound GM-CSF and IL-18 as an Effective Tumor Vaccine.

• Main Authors: Chien-Chiao Huang, Kung-Kai Kuo, Ta-Chun Cheng, Chih-Hung Chuang, Chien-Han Kao, Yuan-Chin Hsieh, Kuang-Hung Cheng, Jaw-Yuan Wang, Chiu-Min Cheng, Chien-Shu Chen, Tian-Lu Cheng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2015-01-01
• Series: PLoS ONE
• Online Access: http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4506079?pdf=render

The development of effective adjuvant is the key factor to boost the immunogenicity of tumor cells as a tumor vaccine. In this study, we expressed membrane-bound granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and interleukin-18 (IL-18) as adjuvants in tumor cells to stimulate immune response. B7 transmembrane domain fused GM-CSF and IL-18 was successfully expressed in the cell membrane and stimulated mouse splenocyte proliferation. Co-expression of GM-CSF and IL-18 reduced tumorigenesis (P<0.05) and enhanced tumor protective efficacy (P<0.05) significantly in comparison with GM-CSF alone. These results indicated that the combination of GM-CSF andIL-18 will enhance the immunogenicity of a cell-based anti-tumor vaccine. This membrane-bound approach can be applied to other cytokines for the development of novel vaccine strategies.