A Tetravalent Nanovaccine That Inhibits Growth of HPV-Associated Head and Neck Carcinoma via Dendritic and T Cell Activation

Authors

Romano Josi
Daniel E Speiser
Simone de Brot
Anne-Cathrine Vogt
Eva M Sevick-Muraca
Genrich V Tolstonog
Martin F Bachmann
Mona O Mohsen

Publication Date

4-19-2024

Journal

IScience

Abstract

The global incidence of human papillomavirus (HPV) associated head and neck carcinoma is on the rise, in response to this a tetravalent therapeutic vaccine named Qβ-HPVag was developed. This vaccine, utilizing virus-like particles (VLPs) loaded with toll-like receptor ligands and chemically coupled to four HPV16-derived peptides, demonstrated strong anti-tumor effects in a murine head and neck cancer model. Qβ-HPVag impeded tumor progression, increased infiltration of HPV-specific T cells, and significantly improved survival. The vaccine`s efficacy was associated with immune repolarization in the tumor microenvironment, characterized by expanded activated dendritic cell subsets (cDC1, cDC2, DC3). Notably, mice responding to treatment exhibited a higher percentage of migratory DC3 cells expressing CCR7. These findings suggest promising prospects for optimized VLP-based vaccines in treating HPV-associated head and neck cancer.

Keywords

Immunology, Virology, Cancer

DOI

10.1016/j.isci.2024.109439

PMID

38523774

PMCID

PMC10957412

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

3-6-2024

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Published Open-Access

yes