Juanjuan Chen, Lijie Zhang, Weigang Wen, Jiaqing Hao, Pumei Zeng, Xiaoping Qian, Yu Zhang, Yanhui Yin

HCA587 (also known as MAGE-C2) is a "cancer-testis" antigen highly expressed in a number of malignancies with unique immunological properties, making it a promising target for tumor immunotherapy. In this report, we demonstrated that HCA587 protein, when formulated with adjuvants CpG-containing oligodeoxynucleotides (CpG ODN) and ISCOM, was capable of inducing a potent cellular and humoral immune response as indicated by the presence of a large number of HCA587-specific, IFN-γ-producing CD4(+) T cells and high levels of HCA587-specific antibodies. More importantly, vaccination with HCA587 conferred protection against challenge with HCA587-expressing B16 melanoma in prophylactic and therapeutic settings. In analysis of the mechanisms underlying the protective effect, we showed that the vaccination was followed by enhanced accumulation of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) with enrichment of conventional CD4(+) T cells but reduced representation of Treg cells. Further, the antitumor effect was largely abrogated in mice either depleted of CD4(+) T cells or deficient for IFN-γ. These results indicate that HCA587 protein vaccine possesses evident antitumor activity in a mouse model and holds promise for treatment of human cancers.