Linear DNA amplicons as a novel cancer vaccine strategy

Abstract

DNA-based vaccines represent a simple, safe and promising strategy for harnessing the immune system to fight infectious diseases as well as various forms of cancer and thus are considered an important tool in the cancer immunotherapy toolbox. Nonetheless, the manufacture of plasmid DNA vaccines has several drawbacks, including long lead times and the need to remove impurities from bacterial cultures. Here we report the development of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-produced amplicon expression vectors as DNA vaccines and their in vivo application to elicit antigen-specific immune responses in animal cancer models. Amplicons encoding tumor-associated-antigens, such as telomerase reverse transcriptase or neoantigens expressed by murine tumor cell lines were able to elicit antigen-specific immune responses and proved to significantly impact tumor growth when administered in combination with immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). These results strongly support the further exploration of the use of PCR-based amplicons as an innovative immunotherapeutic approach to cancer treatment.

Immunogenicity of COVID-eVax Is Moderately Impacted by Temperature and Molecular Isoforms

“…Indeed, EP technology is prone to a certain level of variability, as we have observed in murine cancer models [5]. Moreover, it is worth mentioning the indirect evidence observed with linear DNA produced by PCR, which is as immunogenic and efficacious as supercoiled plasmid DNA [12]. In this recent paper, we compared side-by-side PCR-produced linear DNA and plasmid DNA in gene expression and a cancer vaccine model, and showed that the two forms of DNA vaccine delivered by EP resulted in similar immune responses and antitumor effects.…”