Drug Delivery and Translational Research - CRS Nanomedicine and Nanoscale Delivery Focus Group Paper of the Year, 2019

Congratulations to the authors of Tumor growth inhibition by mSTEAP peptide nanovaccine inducing augmented CD8+ T cell immune responses (this opens in a new tab) for being awarded Paper of the Year by the CRS Nanomedicine and Nanoscale Delivery Focus Group.

Summary: TumOpen in Tabor antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) directly play a critical role in immunologic tumor inhibition and eradication. To address whether peptide nanovaccine could enhance specific CTL response, we established a syngeneic prostate cancer mouse model with TRAMP-C2  cells, followed by the treatments with either mouse six-transmembrane epithelial antigen of the prostate （mSTEAP） peptides emulsified in incomplete Freund’s adjuvant (IFA) via subcutaneous (SC) injection or nanovaccine carrying an identical amount of mSTEAP peptides via IV or SC injection. Meanwhile, the mouse models were treated with either CD8b mAb followed by nanovaccine treatment, free mSTEAP peptide, or empty PLGA nanoparticles. Immune responses in these mice were examined using cytotoxicity assays at 14 days after treatment. Tumor size and survival in various treatment groups were measured and monitored. The results demonstrated that mSTEAP peptide nanovaccine resulted in tumor inhibition by eliciting a significantly stronger CD8⁺ T cell immune response when compared with the controls. Moreover, the survival periods of mice treated with mSTEAP nanovaccine were significantly longer than those of mice treated with mSTEAP peptide emulsified in IFA or the treatment controls.

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