Generated SecPen_NY-ESO-1_ubiquitin-pulsed dendritic cell cancer vaccine elicits stronger and specific T cell immune responses

Dendritic cell-based cancer vaccines (DC vaccines) have been proved efficient and safe in immunotherapy of various cancers, including melanoma, ovarian and prostate cancer. However, the clinical responses were not always satisfied. Here we proposed a novel strategy to prepare DC vaccines. In the present study, a fusion protein SNU containing a secretin-penetratin (SecPen) peptide, NY-ESO-1 and ubiquitin was designed and expressed. To establish the DC vaccine (DC-SNU), the mouse bone marrow-derived DCs (BMDCs) were isolated, pulsed with SNU and maturated with cytokine cocktail. Then peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from C57BL/6 mice inoculated intraperitoneally with DC-SNU were separated and cocultured with MC38/MC38