Published online Jun 15, 2003. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v9.i6.1191
Revised: September 4, 2002
Accepted: October 21, 2002
Published online: June 15, 2003
AIM: To develop an oral DNA vaccine against gastric cancer and evaluate its efficacy in mice.
METHODS: The genes of the MG7-Ag mimotope and a universal Th epitope (Pan-DR epitope, PADRE) were included in the PCR primers. By PCR, the fusion gene of the two epitopes was amplified. The fusion gene was confirmed by sequencing and was then cloned into pcDNA3.1 (+) plasmid. The pcDNA3.1 (+)-MG7/PADRE was used to transfect an attenuated Salmonella typhimurium. C57BL/6 mice were orally immunized with 1 × 108 cfu Salmonella transfectants. Salmonella harboring the empty pcDNA3.1 (+) plasmid and phosphate buffer saline (PBS) were used as negative controls. At the 6th week, serum titer of MG7-Ag specific antibody was detected by ELISA. At the 8th week cellular immunity was detected by an unprimed proliferation test of the spleenocytes by using a [3H]-thymidine incorporation assay. Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells expressing MG7-Ag were used as a model in tumor challenge assay to evaluate the protective effect of the vaccine.
RESULTS: Serum titer of antibody against MG7-Ag was significantly higher in mice immunized with the vaccine than that in control groups (0.841 vs 0.347, P < 0.01; 0.841 vs 0.298, P < 0.01), while in vitro unprimed proliferation assay of the spleenocytes showed no statistical difference between those three groups. Two weeks after tumor challenge, 2 in 7 immunized mice were tumor free, while all the mice in the control groups showed tumor formation.
CONCLUSION: Oral DNA vaccine against the MG7-Ag momitope of gastric cancer is immunogenic. It can induce significant humoral immunity against tumor in mice, and the vaccine has partially protective effects.