CELLULAR CANCER VACCINE INDUCES DELAYED-TYPE HYPERSENSITIVITY REACTION AND AUGMENTS ANTIBODY-RESPONSE TO TUMOR-ASSOCIATED CARBOHYDRATE ANTIGENS (SIALYL LE(A), SIALYL LE(X), GD(3) AND GM(2)) BETTER THAN SOLUBLELYSATE CANCER VACCINE

Allogenic whole cell and lysate cancer vaccines are associated with ve ry different clinical outcome, which could be due to different immune responses to critical tumor-associated antigens. We used a guinea pig model to evaluate the immune responses to melanoma-associated carbohyd rate antigens administered in whole cell and soluble lysate vaccines p roduced from the same cell lines and administered with or without Baci lle Calmette-Guerin (BCG). Animals immunized with whole cell vaccine d eveloped a significantly higher delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) re action. The IgG response to all tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens except GD(2) was significantly higher in animals immunized with whole cell vaccine than lysate vaccine. This study indicates that whole cel l vaccine is superior to soluble or lysate vaccine because it induces a better immune response against cell-surface antigens. The addition o f BCG significantly increased the antibody response, suggesting that a n exogenous adjuvant may immunopotentiate antigens better in the prese nce of an intact cell membrane.