Her-2/neu + tumor cells refractory to antibody or receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors are emerging in treated patients. To investigate if drug resistant tumors can be controlled by active vaccination, gefitinib and antibody sensitivity of four neu + BALB/c mouse mammary tumor lines were compared. Significant differences in cell proliferation and Akt phosphorylation were observed. Treatment-induced drug resistance was associated with increased chromosomal aberrations as shown by spectral karyotyping analysis, suggesting changes beyond neu signaling pathways. When mice were immunized with pneuTM encoding the extracellular and transmembrane domains of neu, antibody and T-cell responses were induced, and both drug-sensitive and drug-resistant tumor cells were rejected. In T-cell-depleted mice, drug-sensitive tumors were still rejected by vaccination, but drug-refractory tumors survived in some mice, indicating their resistance to anti-neu antibodies. To further test if T cells alone can mediate tumor rejection, mice were immunized with pcytneu encoding full-length cytoplasmic neu that is rapidly degraded by the proteasome to activate CD8 T cells without inducing antibody response. All test tumors were rejected in pcytneu-immunized mice, regardless of their sensitivity to gefitinib or antibody. Therefore, cytotoxic T lymphocytes activated by the complete repertoire of neu epitopes were effective against all test tumors. These results warrant Her-2 vaccination whether tumor cells are sensitive or resistant to Her-2-targeted drugs or antibody therapy. [Cancer Res 2008;68(18):7502-11]

Direct comparison and ranking of vaccine formulations in pre-clinical studies will expedite the identification of cancer vaccines for clinical trials. Two human ErbB-2 (Her-2) vaccines, naked DNA and whole cell vaccine, were tested side-by-side in wild type and Her-2 transgenic mice. Both vaccines can induce humoral and cellular immunity to the entire repertoire of Her-2 epitopes. Mice were electro-vaccinated i.m. with a mixture of pGM-CSF and pE2TM, the latter encodes Her-2 extracellular and transmembrane domains. Alternatively, mice were injected i.p. with human ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells that have amplified Her-2. In wild type mice, comparable levels of Her-2 antibodies (Ab) were induced by these two vaccines. However, T cell immunity and protection against Her-2+ tumors were superior in DNA vaccinated mice. In BALB Her-2 transgenic (Tg) mice, which were tolerant to Her-2, DNA and cell vaccines were administered after regulatory T cells (Treg) were removed by anti-CD25 mAb. Again, comparable levels of Her-2 Ab were induced, but DNA vaccines rendered greater anti-tumor activity. In B6xDR3 Her-2 Tg mice that expressed the autoimmune prone HLA-DR3 allele, higher levels of Her-2 Ab were induced by SKOV3 cell than by Her-2 DNA. But anti-tumor activity was still more profound in DNA vaccinated mice. Therefore, Her-2 DNA vaccine induced greater anti-tumor immunity than cell vaccine, whether mice were tolerant to Her-2 or susceptible to autoimmunity. Through such side-by-side comparisons in appropriate pre-clinical test systems, the more effective vaccine formulations will emerge as candidates for clinical trials.

Introduction-The development of Her-2 DNA vaccine has progressed through three phases that can be categorized as phase "A": the pursuit of Her-2 as a tumor-associated "antigen", phase "B": tilting the "balance" between tumor immunity and autoimmunity and phase "C": the ongoing "clinical trials".

Purpose-CD40 ligand (CD40L)-deficient patients display increased susceptibilities to infections that can be mitigated with effective prophylactic strategies including immunoglobulin G (IgG) replacement and prophylactic antibiotics. CD8 + T-cell senescence has been described in CD40L deficiency, but it is unclear if this is an intrinsic feature of the disease or secondary to