Therapy of HPV 16-associated carcinoma with dendritic cell-based vaccines:In vitro priming of the effector cell responses by DC pulsed with tumour lysates and synthetic RAHYNIVTF peptide

Murine carcinoma induced by MK 16 cells expressing HPV 16 E6/E7 oncogenes w as utilized to examine the therapeutic effect of dendritic cell-based tumou r vaccines. Mice carrying 5-day MK 16 tumours were injected peritumorally w ith either dendritic cells (DC) or DC pulsed with MK 16 tumour lysate. Both the unpulsed and MK 16 lysate-pulsed DC vaccines inhibited growth of the M K 16 transplants, the pulsed DC being more efficient than the unpulsed vacc ines. In vitro priming of the effector cell-mediated anti-MK 16 responses b y DC pulsed with MK 16 tumour lysate and a synthetic HPV 16 E7((49-57)) pep tide RAHYNIVTF was compared. The priming activity of the lysate was substan tially higher than that of the HPV 16 E7((49-57)) peptide; the priming acti vity was similar to that of a standard moderately immunogenic chemically-in duced sarcoma. Taken collectively, these results suggest that DC vaccines p ulsed with HPV 16-associated tumour lysates represent a prospective modalit y for treatment of HPV 16-associated carcinomas.