Open AccessImmunotherapy-induced antibodies to endogenous retroviral envelope glycoprotein confer tumor protection in mice
Author(s) -
Byong H. Kang,
Noor Momin,
Kelly D. Moynihan,
Murillo Silva,
Yingzhong Li,
Darrell J. Irvine,
K. Dane Wittrup
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0248903
Subject(s) - immunotherapy , antibody , antigen , virology , monoclonal antibody , vaccination , immunology , endogenous retrovirus , biology , glycoprotein , endogeny , cancer immunotherapy , retrovirus , antiserum , immune system , cancer research , virus , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , genome , gene , endocrinology
Following curative immunotherapy of B16F10 tumors, ~60% of mice develop a strong antibody response against cell-surface tumor antigens. Their antisera confer prophylactic protection against intravenous challenge with B16F10 cells, and also cross-react with syngeneic and allogeneic tumor cell lines MC38, EL.4, 4T1, and CT26. We identified the envelope glycoprotein (env) of a murine endogenous retrovirus (ERV) as the antigen accounting for the majority of this humoral response. A systemically administered anti-env monoclonal antibody cloned from such a response protects against tumor challenge, and prophylactic vaccination against the env protein protects a majority of naive mice from tumor establishment following subcutaneous inoculation with B16F10 cells. These results suggest the potential for effective prophylactic vaccination against analogous HERV-K env expressed in numerous human cancers.