A Toll-like receptor 2 agonist-fused antigen enhanced antitumor immunity by increasing antigen presentation and the CD8 memory T cells population

The induction of long-lived effector CD8(+) T cells is key to the development of efficient cancer vaccines. In this study, we demonstrated that a Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) agonist-fused antigen increased antigen presentation via TLR2 signaling and induced effector memory-like CD8(+) T cells against cancer after immunization. The N-terminus of ovalbumin (OVA) was biologically fused with a bacterial lipid moiety TLR2 agonist to produce a recombinant lipidated ovalbumin (rlipo-OVA). We demonstrated that rlipo-OVA activated bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BM-DCs) maturation and increased antigen presentation by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I via TLR2. After immunization, rlipo-OVA skewed the immune response towards T helper (Th) 1 and induced OVA-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses. Moreover, immunization with rlipo-OVA induced higher numbers of effector memory (CD44(+)CD62L(−)) CD8(+) T cells compared with recombinant ovalbumin (rOVA) alone or rOVA mixed with the TLR2 agonist Pam3CSK4. Accordingly, the CD27(+)CD43(+) effector memory CD8(+) T cells expressed high levels of the long-lived CD127 marker. The administration of rlipo-OVA could inhibit tumor growth, but the anti-tumor effects were lost after the depletion of CD8 or CD127 cells in vivo. These findings suggested that the TLR2 agonist-fused antigen induced long-lived memory CD8(+) T cells for efficient cancer therapy.