Cell capable of activating immune system, and pharmaceutical composition containing said cell
The present invention provides a cell activating the immune system and a pharmaceutical composition containing the cell. According to the present invention, there is provided a mammalian cell having at least one protein selected from the group consisting of E6 protein and E7 protein for early genes of human papillomavirus and a fusion protein of E6 protein and E7 protein, and CD1d protein, wherein the mammalian cell is pulsed with a CD1d ligand. According to the present invention, there are also provided a fusion protein having E7 protein, E6 protein and E7 protein in this order, a nucleic acid encoding the protein and a gene expression vector therefor.
1 . A mammalian cell expressing
(a) an E7-E6-E7 fusion protein, wherein the fusion protein consists of, from its N-terminus to its C-terminus, a first E7 protein of human papilloma virus (HPV), an E6 protein of HPV, and a second E7 protein of HPV,
wherein the E6 protein is flanked by the first E7 protein and the second E7 protein, and
wherein (1) each of the first E7 protein and the second E7 protein is an HPV-16 E7 protein, or (2) each of the first E7 protein and the second E7 protein is an HPV-18 E7 protein, and
(b) a CD1d protein,
wherein the mammalian cell is pulsed with a CD1d ligand,
wherein the cell induces antigen-specific T cell immunity against both of E6 and E7 of HPV when an effective amount of the cells is administered to a human subject, and
wherein the fusion protein comprises the amino acid sequence set forth in any one of SEQ ID NOs: 21, 23, 26, and 28.
2 . A pharmaceutical composition comprising the cell according to claim 1 .
3 . A method of inducing antigen-specific T cell immunity against both of an E6 protein of human papilloma virus (HPV) and an E7 protein of HPV in a human subject, comprising:
administering to the human subject an effective amount of the cell according to claim 1 .
4 . A method of treating a human subject infected with human papillomavirus (HPV) comprising:
administering to the human subject an effective amount of the cell according to claim 1 .
5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the human subject developed cancer by the infection.