Combination of treatment with death receptor 5-specific antibody with therapeutic HPV DNA vaccination generates enhanced therapeutic anti-tumor effects

There is currently a vital need for the development of novel therapeutic strategies for the control of advanced stage cancers. Antigen-specific immunotherapy and the employment of antibodies against the death receptor 5 (DR5) have emerged as two potentially promising strategies for cancer treatment. In the current study, we hypothesize that the combination of treatment with the anti-DR5 monoclonal antibody, MD5-1 with a DNA vaccine encoding calreticulin (CRT) linked to human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) E7 antigen (CRT/E7(detox)) administered via gene gun would lead to further enhancement of E7-specific immune responses as well as anti-tumor effects. Our results indicated that mice bearing the E7-expressing tumor, TC-1 treated with MD5-1 monoclonal antibody followed by CRT/E7(detox) DNA vaccination generated the most potent therapeutic anti-tumor effects as well as highest levels of E7-specific CD8+ T cells among all the groups tested. In addition, treatment with MD5-1 monoclonal antibody was capable of rendering the TC-1 tumor cells more susceptible to lysis by E7-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Our findings serve as an important foundation for future clinical translation.