Vaccine for tumor immunotherapy

1. A composition comprising:

(i) antigen-presenting cells;

(ii) at least one tumor cell lysate; and,

(iii) bacterial ghosts from E. coli Nissle 1917.

2. The composition of claim 1 for use as vaccine for tumor immunotherapy.

3. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the antigen-presenting cells comprise monocytes.

4. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the antigen-presenting cells comprise dendritic cells.

5. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the bacterial ghosts are obtained from bacterial cells comprising a gene encoding a lytic protein.

6. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the bacterial ghosts have been treated with β-propiolactone.

7. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the bacterial ghosts are loaded with an activator or silencer of the immune system, a pharmaceutical agent and/or DNA.

8. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the bacterial ghosts carry recombinant tumor-associated antigens.

9. The composition of claim 8 , wherein the bacterial ghosts are loaded with tumor-associated antigens.

10. The composition of claim 8 , wherein the bacterial ghosts are derived from bacteria recombinantly expressing tumor-associated antigens.

11. The composition of claim 1 , comprising from 1 to 10,000, or from 10 to 1,000 bacterial ghosts per antigen-presenting cell.

12. The composition of claim 1 , comprising 1 to 10 million antigen-presenting cells per dose.

13. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the antigen-presenting cells induce tumor-antigen recognition and tumor-specific killing by T cells.

14. The composition of claim 1 , wherein antigen-presenting cells are autologous antigen-presenting cells.

15. The composition of claim 1 , further comprising a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier or excipient.

16. A therapeutic vaccine comprising:

(i) antigen-presenting cells;

(ii) at least one tumor cell lysate;

(iii) bacterial ghosts from E. coli Nissle 1917; and

(iv) a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier or excipient.

17. A method of treating cancer in a patient comprising:

administering to the patient a therapeutic vaccine composition comprising

(i) antigen-presenting cells;

(ii) at least one tumor cell lysate;

(iii) bacterial ghosts from E. coli Nissle 1917; and

(iv) a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier or excipient,

in an amount effective to treat the cancer in the patient.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the therapeutic vaccine composition is prepared by a process comprising a step of incubating the antigen-presenting cells with the at least one tumor cell lysate in presence of the bacterial ghosts for 10 minutes to 12 hours.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the antigen-presenting cells are dendritic cells.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein after the incubation the dendritic cells exhibit an increase in one or more of levels of cytokine release, expression of CD83, expression of HLA-DR, expression of CD80, expression of CD86 and capacity to stimulate proliferation of autologous CD4 + and CD8 + T-cells, in comparison with a composition prepared by a process comprising a step of incubating the dendritic cells with the at least one tumor cell lysate without the presence of the bacterial ghosts.

21. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the composition is prepared by a process comprising a step of incubating the antigen-presenting cells with the at least one tumor cell lysate in presence of the bacterial ghosts for 10 minutes to 12 hours.

22. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the antigen-presenting cells are dendritic cells.

23. The composition of claim 22 , wherein the composition is prepared by a process comprising a step of incubating the dendritic cells with the at least one tumor cell lysate in presence of the bacterial ghosts for 10 minutes to 12 hours.

24. The composition of claim 23 , wherein after the incubation the dendritic cells exhibit an increase in one or more of levels of cytokine release, expression of CD83, expression of HLA-DR, expression of CD80, expression of CD86 and capacity to stimulate proliferation of autologous CD4 + and CD8 + T-cells, in comparison with a composition prepared by a process comprising a step of incubating the dendritic cells with the at least one tumor cell lysate without the presence of the bacterial ghosts.