Fusion of Hsp70 to Mage-a1 enhances the potency of vaccine-specific immune responses

BACKGROUND: Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are capable of promoting antigen presentation of chaperoned peptides through interactions with receptors on antigen presenting cells. This property of HSPs suggests a potential function as an adjuvant-free carrier to stimulate immune responses against a covalently linked fusion partner. MAGE-A1 is a likely candidate for tumor immunotherapy due to its abundant immunogenic epitopes and strict tumor specificity. To analyze the influence of HSP70 conjugation to MAGE-A1, towards developing a novel effective vaccine against MAGE-expressing tumors, we cloned the murine counterpart of the human HSP70 and MAGE-A1 genes. METHODS: Recombinant proteins expressing Mage-a1 (aa 118–219), Hsp70, and Mage-a1-Hsp70 fusion were purified and used to immunize C57BL/6 mice. The humoral and cellular responses elicited against Mage-a1 were measured by ELISA, IFN-γ ELISPOT assay, and cytotoxicity assay. RESULTS: Immunization of mice with Mage-a1-Hsp70 fusion protein elicited significantly higher Mage-a1-specific antibody titers than immunization with either Mage-a1 alone or a combination of Mage-a1 + Hsp70. The frequency of IFN-γ-producing cells and the cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) activity was also elevated. Consistent with the elevated immune response, immunization with fusion protein induced potent in vivo antitumor immunity against MAGE-a1-expressing tumors. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that the fusion of Hsp70 to Mage-a1 can enhance immune responses and anti-tumor effects against Mage-a1-expressing tumors. Fusion of HSP70 to a tumor antigen may greatly enhance the potency of protein vaccines and can potentially be applied to other cancer systems with known tumor-specific antigens. These findings provide a scientific basis for the development of a novel HSP70 and MAGE fusion protein vaccine against MAGE-expressing tumors.