HER-2/neu mediated down-regulation of MHC class I antigen processing prevents CTL-mediated tumor recognition upon DNA vaccination in HLA-A2 transgenic mice.

Vertuani S, Triulzi C, Roos AK, Charo J, Norell H, Lemonnier F, Pisa P, Seliger B, Kiessling R.
Cancer Immunol Immunother. 2009 May;58(5):653-64. Epub 2008 Sep 27.

To study DNA vaccination directed against human HER-2 in the HHD mouse Tg strain, we created a novel HER-2-expressing syngeneic tumor transplantation model. We found that a DNA vaccine encoding the full length HER-2 DNA protected HHD mice from HER-2(+) tumor challenge by a CTL independent mechanism. A more efficient approach to induce HLA-A2 restricted CTLs, through immunization with a multi-epitope DNA vaccine expressing the HLA-A2 restricted HER-2 369-377, 435-443 and 689-697 epitopes, resulted in high numbers of peptide specific T cells but failed to induce tumor protection. Subsequently we discovered that HER-2 transfected tumor cells down-regulated MHC class I antigen expression and exhibited a series of defects in the antigen processing pathway which impaired the capacity to produce and display MHC class I peptide-ligands to specific CTLs. Our data demonstrate that HER-2 transfection is associated with defects in the MHC class I presentation pathway, which may be the underlying mechanism behind the inability of CTLs to recognize tumors in this HLA-A2 transgenic model. As defective MHC class I presentation may be a common characteristic of HER-2 expressing tumors, vaccines targeting HER-2 should aim at inducing an integrated immune response where also CD4(+) T cells and antibodies are important components.

Pub Med: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18820911

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