Cross-linking Peptide Vaccine Heat Shock Protein 72 and Alpha-fetoprotein Elicited Specific Dendritic Cells, Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte Cells and Natural Killing Cells

Abstract

Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is an oncofetal protein during Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development which could generate weaker and less reproducible antitumor protection, and may serve as a target for immunotherapy. Therefore, it is imperative to enhance its immunogenicity and develop therapeutic vaccines to eliminate AFP-expressing tumors. In this study, by way of peptide synthesis method, we constructed a potential therapeutic peptide vaccine, heat shock protein 72 (HSP72) and AFP peptide containing the specific antigen epitope. Our results demonstrated that AFP peptide and HSP72 synergistically exhibited significant increases in AFP-specific dendritic cells, CD8 + T cells, natural killing cells responses and impressive antitumor effects against AFP-expressing tumors. Our study suggests that a tumor peptide vaccine by cross-linking AFP peptide and HSP72 peptide is a promising approach for HCC therapy.