Immunization with a HSP65–HER2 fusion peptide selectively eliminates HER2+ B16 melanoma cells in a xenograft tumor mouse model

Small heat shock protein 27: An effective adjuvant for enhancement of HIV-1 Nef antigen-specific immunity

Novel vaccine modalities have been designed to improve the efficiency of vaccines against HIV infections. In this way, the HIV-1 Nef protein has been known as an attractive antigenic candidate in therapeutic vaccine development. Moreover, the endogenous adjuvants such as heat shock proteins (HSPs) and high mobility group box 1 protein (HMGB1) have been suggested effectively to induce antigen-specific humoral and cellular immune responses. In this study, different Nef DNA and protein constructs were produced in eukaryotic and prokaryotic expression systems, and their immunostimulatory properties were evaluated using small heat shock protein 27 (Hsp27) and the HMGB1-derived peptide (Hp91) in a mouse model. Generally, our results indicated that the Hsp27-Nef fusion DNA or protein could significantly elicit higher humoral and cellular immune responses than Nef DNA or protein, respectively. Analysis of the immune responses demonstrated that the Hsp27-Nef fusion protein, and also the mixture of Nef and Hp91 significantly enhanced the Nef-specific T cell responses. Indeed, these regimens induced high levels of IgG2a and IFN-γ directed toward Th1 responses and also Granzyme B secretion as compared to other immunization strategies. The immunostimulatory properties of Freund's adjuvant were significantly less than Hsp27 and Hp91 peptide in various immunization strategies. These findings showed that the use of Hsp27 and Hp91 in protein strategy could improve HIV-1 Nef-specific B- and T-cell immune responses, and also represent a promising HIV-1 vaccine candidate in future.

KIAA0101 mRNA expression in the peripheral blood of hepatocellular carcinoma patients: Association with some clinicopathological features

OBJECTIVES

The development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is multi-factorial, multi-step and involving many genes. Recent studies have revealed the involvement of KIAA0101 in HCC development and progression. KIAA0101 is involved in the regulation of DNA repair, cell cycle progression, and cell proliferation. This study aims to elucidate the clinicopathological significance of KIAA0101 mRNA expression in the whole blood of HCC patients.

DESIGN AND METHODS

This study was conducted on 77 patients with proven HCC who presented to the outpatient clinic at the National Cancer Institute - Cairo University over a period of 8 consecutive months. Thirty patients with cirrhosis and forty apparently healthy volunteers were included as control groups. Detection of KIAA0101 mRNA was done on whole blood collected on EDTA for all patients and control subjects using real-time PCR.

RESULTS

KIAA0101 mRNA was over-expressed in the HCC group compared to the control groups. Overexpression of KIAA0101 mRNA was significantly associated with distant metastasis, advanced stage, high serum alkaline phosphatase and low serum albumin levels. Both sensitivity and specificity of KIAA0101 mRNA were higher than those of AFP and CEA.

CONCLUSION

Being associated with some of the prognostic factors of HCC which reflect tumor progression; as advanced stage, distant metastasis, hypoalbuminemia and elevated serum alkaline phosphatase, together with its relatively high diagnostic performance; KIAA0101 mRNA might be nominated to play a probable role in the diagnosis and prognosis prediction of HCC. Further studies on a wider scale are recommended to confirm these results.