CEA- DNA Vaccination Strategy against Colorectal Cancer

Background and Aim: Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), a glycosylatedprotein of MW 180 kDa, is overexpressed in colorectal cancer. CEA asa target for anti-cancer specific immunotherapy. We have studied theeffects of CEA as a DNA-vaccine Candidate in mice bearing colorectalcancer.Methods: The CEA cloned into the pCDNA vector. Cloning of CEAwas confirmed by enzymatic digestion and sequencing. The CEA wasexpressed and confirmed by anti-CEA western analysis. To evaluatethe ability of the CEA, spleen lymphocytes of immunized mice wereanalyzed with BrdU proliferation kit, Cytokine assay, and Elispot assay.Also, we explored the protective potency of CEA as a vaccine Candidatein mice bearing colorectal cancer.Results: The finding demonstrated that injection of CEA construct couldelicit strong T-helper 1 (Th1) immunity against the antigen, as indicatedby the specific high-level production of IFN-γ and IL-2 using spleenlymphocytes and lymphoproliferative responses.Conclusion: Animals with CEA expressing tumors showed diminishedtumor growth and prolonged survival when immunized with CEAplasmidDNA compared to controls.

Keywords:

Carcinoembryonic antigen , Colorectal Cancer , T-helper 1 , Vaccine