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A Fully Synthetic Four‐Component Antitumor Vaccine Consisting of a Mucin Glycopeptide Antigen Combined with Three Different T‐Helper‐Cell Epitopes
Author(s) -
Palitzsch Björn,
Hartmann Sebastian,
Stergiou Natascha,
Glaffig Markus,
Schmitt Edgar,
Kunz Horst
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201406843
Subject(s) - epitope , immunogenicity , glycopeptide , t helper cell , antigen , muc1 , t cell , immune system , virology , biology , immunology , microbiology and biotechnology , antibiotics
In a new concept of fully synthetic vaccines, the role of T‐helper cells is emphasized. Here, a synthetic antitumor vaccine consisting of a diglycosylated tumor‐associated MUC1 glycopeptide as the B‐cell epitope was covalently cross‐linked with three different T‐helper‐cell epitopes via squaric acid ligation of two linear (glyco)peptides. In mice this four‐component vaccine administered without external immune‐stimulating promoters elicit titers of MUC1‐specific antibodies that were about eight times higher than those induced by a vaccine containing only one T‐helper‐cell epitope. The promising results indicate that multiple activation of different T‐helper cells is useful for applications in which increased immunogenicity is required. In personalized medicine, in particular, this flexible construction of a vaccine can serve as a role model, for example, when T‐helper‐cell epitopes are needed that match human leukocyte antigens (HLA) in different patients.