LEAPS Vaccine Incorporating HER-2/neu Epitope Elicits Protection That Prevents and Limits Tumor Growth and Spread of Breast Cancer in a Mouse Model

Restoring the Balance between Pro-Inflammatory and Anti-Inflammatory Cytokines in the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis: New Insights from Animal Models

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other autoimmune inflammatory diseases are examples of imbalances within the immune system (disrupted homeostasis) that arise from the effects of an accumulation of environmental and habitual insults over a lifetime, combined with genetic predispositions. This review compares current immunotherapies-(1) disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and (2) Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors (jakinibs)-to a newer approach-(3) therapeutic vaccines (using the LEAPS vaccine approach). The Ligand Epitope Antigen Presentation System (LEAPS) therapies are capable of inhibiting ongoing disease progression in animal models. Whereas DMARDs ablate or inhibit specific proinflammatory cytokines or cells and jakinibs inhibit the receptor activation cascade for expression of proinflammatory cytokines, the LEAPS therapeutic vaccines specifically modulate the ongoing antigen-specific, disease-driving, proinflammatory T memory cell responses. This decreases disease presentation and changes the cytokine conversation to decrease the expression of inflammatory cytokines (IL-17, IL-1(α or β), IL-6, IFN-γ, TNF-α) while increasing the expression of regulatory cytokines (IL-4, IL-10, TGF-β). This review refocuses the purpose of therapy for RA towards rebalancing the immune system rather than compromising specific components to stop disease. This review is intended to be thought provoking and look forward towards new therapeutic modalities rather than present a final definitive report.

Towards Breast Cancer Vaccines, Progress and Challenges

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among women. National cancer institute of the US estimates that one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetime. Considering the devastating effects of the disease and the alarming numbers many scientists and research groups have devoted their research to fight breast cancer. Several recommendations are to be considered as preventing measures which include living a healthy lifestyle, regular physical activity, weight control and smoking cessation. Early detection of the disease by annual and regular mammography after the age of 40 is recommended by many healthcare institutions. This would help the diagnosis of the disease at an earlier stage and the start of the treatment before it is spread to other parts of the body. Current therapy for breast cancer includes surgical ablation, radiotherapy and chemotherapy which is often associated with adverse effects and even may lead to a relapse of the disease at a later stage. In order to achieve a long-lasting anticancer response with minimal adverse effects, development of breast cancer vaccines is under investigation by many laboratories. The immune system can be stimulated by a vaccine against breast cancer. This approach has attracted a great enthusiasm in recent years. No breast cancer vaccines have been approved for clinical use today. One breast cancer vaccine (NeuVax) has now completed clinical trial phase III and a few preventive and therapeutic breast cancer vaccines are at different steps of development. We think that with the recent advancements in immunotherapy, a breast cancer vaccine is not far from reach.

Detection of Tumor Antigen-Specific T-Cell Responses After Oncolytic Vaccination

Oncolytic vaccines, which consist of recombinant oncolytic viruses (OV) encoding tumor-associated antigens (TAAs), have demonstrated potent antitumor efficacy in preclinical models and are currently evaluated in phase I/II clinical trials. On one hand, oncolysis of OV-infected malignant entities reinstates cancer immunosurveillance. On the other hand, overexpression of TAAs in infected cells further stimulates the adaptive arm of antitumor immunity. Particularly, the presence of tumor-specific CD8⁺ T lymphocytes within the tumor microenvironment, as well as in the periphery, has demonstrated prognostic value for cancer treatments. These effector CD8⁺ T cells can be detected through their production of the prototypical Tc1 cytokine: IFN-γ. The quantitative and qualitative assessment of this immune cell subset remains critical in the development process of efficient cancer vaccines, including oncolytic vaccines. The present chapter will describe a single-cell immunological assay, namely the intracellular cytokine staining (ICS), that allows the enumeration of IFN-γ-producing TAA-specific CD8⁺ T cells in various tissues (tumor, blood, lymphoid organs) following oncolytic vaccination.

Lessons from next generation influenza vaccines for inflammatory disease therapies

Lessons can be learned for treating inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) from next generation approaches for development of universal influenza vaccines. Immunomodulation of inflammatory diseases, rather than ablation of cytokine or cellular responses, can address the root cause of the disease and provide potential cure. Like influenza, there are different antigenic 'strains' and inflammatory T cell responses, Th1 or Th17, that drive each person's disease. As such, next generation vaccine-like antigen specific therapies for inflammatory diseases can be developed but will need to be customized to the patient depending upon the antigen and T cell response that is driving the disease.

Why Don't We Have a Vaccine Against Autoimmune Diseases? - A Review

This review examines some of the reasons why we don't have a vaccine against autoimmune diseases and highlights the progress that has been made. Many autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), multiple sclerosis (MS) and type 1 diabetes (T1D), are driven by autoimmune T cell responses. Unlike vaccines for most infectious diseases, which elicit antibody responses, are intended for immuno-naive individuals and considered preventative, a vaccine for an autoimmune disease must be therapeutic and resolve or control the on-going autoimmune response and condition in the diseased host. Despite these differences, many of the same considerations for infectious disease vaccines must also be addressed to develop a therapeutic vaccine for autoimmune diseases. The disease initiator/triggers, antigens and autoantigens, nature of the immunopathogenic and protective/therapeutic immune response will be compared for infectious and autoimmune diseases as will approaches for developing vaccines including formulations, animal models and indicators of success. The rationale for a therapeutic vaccine for RA will be discussed in greater detail with a relatively limited discussion of T1D, MS and other autoimmune diseases.