Tumor vaccine strategies after allogeneic T-cell depleted bone marrow transplantation

Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation is currently restricted to hematological malignancies because of a lack of anti-tumor activity against solid cancers. We have tested a novel treatment strategy to stimulate specific anti-tumor activity against a solid tumor after transplantation by vaccination with irradiated tumor cells engineered to secrete granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor. Using the B16 melanoma model, we found that vaccination elicited potent anti-tumor activity in recipients of syngeneic bone marrow transplantation in a time dependent fashion, and that immune reconstitution was critical for the development of anti-tumor activity. Vaccination did not stimulate anti-tumor immunity after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation because of the post-transplantation immunodeficiency associated with graft-versus-host disease. Remarkably, vaccination was effective in stimulating potent and long-lasting anti-tumor activity in recipients of T cell-depleted allogeneic bone marrow. Thus T cells derived from donor stem cells were able to recognize tumor antigens even though they remained tolerant to host histocompatibility antigens. Donor leukocyte infusion from a donor immunized with the recipient-derived B16 vaccines enhanced clinical activity of tumor vaccines without exacerbating graft-versus-host disease and CD4+ T cells are essential for this enhancement. These results demonstrate that vaccination of both donors and recipients can stimulate potent anti-tumor effects without the induction of graft-versus-host disease, and this strategy has important implications for the treatment of patients with solid malignancies.

Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	Ferrara,James L.M.
Format:	Digital revista
Language:	English
Published:	Associação Brasileira de Hematologia e Hemoterapia e Terapia Celular 2002
Online Access:	http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-84842002000300011
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