Synergy of Immune Checkpoint Blockade with a Novel Synthetic Consensus DNA Vaccine Targeting TERT.

ABSTRACT: Immune checkpoint blockade antibodies are setting a new standard of care for cancer patients. It is therefore important to assess any new immune-based therapies in the context of immune checkpoint blockade. Here, we evaluate the impact of combining a synthetic consensus TERT DNA vaccine that has improved capacity to break tolerance with immune checkpoint inhibitors. We observed that blockade of CTLA-4 or, to a lesser extent, PD-1 synergized with TERT vaccine, generating more robust anti-tumor activity compared to checkpoint alone or vaccine alone. Despite this anti-tumor synergy, none of these immune checkpoint therapies showed improvement in TERT antigen-specific immune responses in tumor-bearing mice. αCTLA-4 therapy enhanced the frequency of T-bet⁺/CD44⁺ effector C

SUBMITTER: Duperret EK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5835021 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature