1. A filamentous bacteriophage targeted to carcinoembryonic antigen induces tumor regression in mouse models of colorectal cancer
- Author
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Nicole Araya, Eduardo Durán, Hans Pieringer, Diana Gaete, Cesar Oyarce, Paola Murgas, Andrés A. Herrada, Nicolás Ferreira, Nicolás Bustamante, Ernesto Lopez, Sebastián Cruz-Gómez, and Alvaro Lladser
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Cancer Research ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Immunology ,Tumor M2-PK ,Mouse model of colorectal and intestinal cancer ,Biology ,Mice ,03 medical and health sciences ,Inovirus ,0302 clinical medicine ,Immune system ,Carcinoembryonic antigen ,Antigen ,Cancer immunotherapy ,Cell Line, Tumor ,medicine ,Animals ,Humans ,Immunology and Allergy ,Innate immune system ,Immunotherapy ,Carcinoembryonic Antigen ,Mice, Inbred C57BL ,Disease Models, Animal ,030104 developmental biology ,Oncology ,030220 oncology & carcinogenesis ,biology.protein ,Colorectal Neoplasms - Abstract
Colorectal cancer is a deadly disease, which is frequently diagnosed at advanced stages, where conventional treatments are no longer effective. Cancer immunotherapy has emerged as a new form to treat different malignancies by turning-on the immune system against tumors. However, tumors are able to evade antitumor immune responses by promoting an immunosuppressive microenvironment. Single-stranded DNA containing M13 bacteriophages are highly immunogenic and can be specifically targeted to the surface of tumor cells to trigger inflammation and infiltration of activated innate immune cells, overcoming tumor-associated immunosuppression and promoting antitumor immunity. Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is highly expressed in colorectal cancers and has been shown to promote several malignant features of colorectal cancer cells. In this work, we targeted M13 bacteriophage to CEA, a tumor-associated antigen over-expressed in a high proportion of colorectal cancers but largely absent in normal cells. The CEA-targeted M13 bacteriophage was shown to specifically bind to purified CEA and CEA-expressing tumor cells in vitro. Both intratumoral and systemic administration of CEA-specific bacteriophages significantly reduced tumor growth of mouse models of colorectal cancer, as compared to PBS and control bacteriophage administration. CEA-specific bacteriophages promoted tumor infiltration of neutrophils and macrophages, as well as maturation dendritic cells in tumor-draining lymph nodes, suggesting that antitumor T-cell responses were elicited. Finally, we demonstrated that tumor protection provided by CEA-specific bacteriophage particles is mediated by CD8+ T cells, as depletion of circulating CD8+ T cells completely abrogated antitumor protection. In summary, we demonstrated that CEA-specific M13 bacteriophages represent a potential immunotherapy against colorectal cancer.
- Published
- 2017
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