COMPARISON OF IL-2-TRANSFECTED AND IL-4-TRANSFECTED B16-F10 CELLS WITH A NOVEL OIL-MICROEMULSION ADJUVANT FOR B16-F10 WHOLE-CELL TUMOR VACCINE

The use of whole cell tumour vaccines in the treatment of malignant me lanoma has given mixed results. Cytokine-transfected tumour cells as v accine have shown efficacy in animal models but need to be compared wi th other means of enhancing a systemic anti-tumour immune response. A new generation of immunological adjuvants claimed to be more effective than the conventional adjuvants is now available for assessment. We h ave investigated gated the action of an oil-microemulsion adjuvant for mulation (IDEC antigen formulation (IDEC-AF)) in the B16-F10 murine me lanoma model. After standardisation of the whole cell tumour vaccinati on protocol we showed that mice vaccinated with whole irradiated cells combined with IDEC-AF produced a significant inhibition of tumour gro wth, following a challenge with live tumour cells, when compared with mice vaccinated with whole cell vaccine alone. IDEC-AF was superior to two conventional adjuvants, namely alum and incomplete Freund's adjuv ant and a more reliable response was achieved with the oil-microemulsi on adjuvant compared with IL-2-transfected cells. In addition, the adj uvant was comparable in efficacy to IL-4-transfected B15-F10 cells. Gi ven the practical difficulty in using cytokine-transfected tumour cell s and the limited therapeutic range of some cytokines, a cheap and eas y to deliver adjuvant formulation proved equally or more effective tha n some of the currently clinically used transfected cytokines.