Compositions and methods employing alternative reading frame polypeptides for the treatment of cancer and infectious disease

1. A method for inhibiting proliferation of a tumor cell in a cancer patient having a tumor characterized by production of a TERT tumor-specific polypeptide, said method comprising the steps of

(a) obtaining from said patient a sample containing antigen presenting cells (APCs);

(b) isolating from said sample said APCs;

(c) priming said isolated APCs ex vivo with a pool of alternative reading frame (ARF), overlapping-sequence peptides that are each encoded by a portion of a polynucleotide encoding said TERT tumor-specific polypeptide, in either reading frame 1 (rf1) or reading frame 2 (rf2), wherein the rf1 and rf2 ARF open reading frames start at position 3 of the TERT rf0 AUG start site utilized for normal translation initiation, wherein the primed APCs are capable of stimulating an immune response in vivo; and

(d) administering said primed APCs to the patient, wherein said TERT tumor-specific polypeptide is encoded by a polynucleotide selected from SEQ ID NO: 4 and SEQ ID NO: 6, and the pool of alternative frame, overlapping sequence peptides are encoded by one or more of: (i) Pool 1, the rf1 and rf2 ARF open reading frames starting at position 2 and position 3, respectively, of the TERT rf0 AUG start site; (ii) Pool 2, the four open reading frames in the rf2 reading frame initiated by an AUG codon 3′ with respect to the rf0 AUG start site, and (iii) Pool 3, the nine open reading frames in the rf1 reading frame initiated by an AUG codon 3′ with respect to the rf0 AUG start site.

2. A method for inhibiting proliferation of a tumor cell in a cancer patient having a tumor characterized by production of a human prostatic acid phosphatase (hPAP) tumor-specific polypeptide, said method comprising the steps of

(a) obtaining from said patient a sample containing antigen presenting cells (APCs);

(b) isolating from said sample said APCs;

(c) priming said isolated APCs ex vivo with a pool of alternative reading frame (ARF), overlapping-sequence peptides that are each encoded by a portion of a polynucleotide encoding said hPAP tumor-specific polypeptide, in either reading frame 1 (rf1) or reading frame 2 (rf2), wherein the rf1 and rf2 ARF open reading frames start at position 5 and position 3, respectively, of the hPAP rf0 AUG start site, wherein the primed APCs are capable of stimulating an immune response in vivo; and

(d) administering said primed APCs to the patient, wherein said hPAP polypeptide is encoded by a polynucleotide selected from SEQ ID NO: 10 and SEQ ID NO: 12, and the pool of alternative reading frame, overlapping sequence peptides are encoded by one or more of: (i) Pool 1, the rf1 and rf2 ARF open reading frames starting at position 5 and position 3, respectively, of the hPAP rf0 AUG start site; and (ii) Pool 2, the seven rf1 or rf2 open reading frames initiated by an AUG codon 3′ with respect to the rf0 AUG start site.

3. The method of claim 1 or claim 2 , wherein said tumor cell is from a cancer selected from the group consisting of a soft tissue sarcoma, a lymphoma, a cancer of the brain, a cancer of the esophagus, a cancer of the uterus, cervix, a cancer of the bone, a cancer of the lung, a cancer of the endometrium, a cancer of the bladder, a cancer of the breast, a cancer of the larynx, a cancer of the colon/rectum, a cancer of the stomach, a cancer of the ovary, a cancer of the pancreas, a cancer of the adrenal gland, and a cancer of the prostate.