Methods of Inducing and/or Enhancing an Immune Response To Tumor Antigens
An improved method of inducing and/or enhancing an immune response to a tumor antigen is disclosed. The method involves administering the tumor antigen, nucleic acid coding therefor, vectors and/or cells comprising said nucleic acid, or vaccines comprising the aforementioned to a lymphatic site.
1 . A method for inducing an immune response in an animal to a tumor antigen comprising administering an effective amount of a tumor antigen or a nucleic acid sequence encoding a tumor antigen to a lymphatic site in the animal.
2 . A method according to claim 1 wherein the tumor antigen is selected from the group consisting of CEA, gp100, the MAGE family of proteins, DAGE, GAGE, RAGE, NY-ESO 1, Melan-A/MART 1, TRP-1, TRP-2, tyrosinase, HER-2/neu, MUC-1, p53, KSA, PSA, PSMA, and fragments and modified versions thereof.
3 . A method according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the lymphatic site is a lymph node.
4 . A method according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the nucleic acid is selected from the group consisting of viral nucleic acid, bacterial DNA, plasmid DNA, naked/free DNA, and RNA.
5 . A method according to claim 4 wherein the viral nucleic acid is selected from the group consisting of adenoviral, alphaviral and poxviral nucleic acid.
6 . A method according to claim 5 wherein the poxviral nucleic acid is selected from the group consisting of avipox, orthopox and suipox nucleic acid.
7 . A method according to claim 5 wherein the poxviral nucleic acid is selected from the group consisting of vaccinia, fowl pox, canarypox and swinepox nucleic acid.
8 . A method according to claim 5 wherein the poxviral nucleic acid is selected from the group consisting of MVA, NYVAC, TROVAC, and ALVAC nucleic acid.
9 . A method according to any one of claims 1 to 8 wherein the nucleic acid is contained in a vector.
10 . A method according to claim 9 wherein the vector is a recombinant virus or bacteria.
11 . A method according to claim 10 wherein the recombinant virus is selected from the group consisting of adenovirus, alphavirus and poxvirus.
12 . A method according to claim 11 wherein the poxvirus is selected from the group consisting of avipox, orthopox and suipox.
13 . A method according to claim 11 wherein the poxvirus is selected from the group consisting of vaccinia, fowlpox, canarypox and swinepox.
14 . A method according to claim 11 wherein the poxvirus is selected from the group consisting of MVA, NYVAC, TROVAC, and ALVAC.
15 . A method according to any one of claims 1 to 8 wherein the nucleic acid is contained in a cell.
16 . A method according to any one of claims 1 to 14 wherein the tumor antigen or nucleic acid coding therefor is contained in a vaccine.
17 . A method according to any one of claims 1 to 16 wherein the tumor antigen is gp100, CEA or a fragment or modified version of gp100 or CEA.
18 . A method according to claim 17 wherein the modified gp100 comprises the sequence IMDQVPFSY (SEQ ID NO: 1) and/or YLEPGPVTV (SEQ ID NO:2).
19 . A method according to claim 17 wherein the modified CEA comprises the sequence shown in FIG. 8 (SEQ ID NO:112) and/or YLSGADLNL (SEQ ID NO:113).