Specific Immunity Elicited by Cross-link Complex Alpha-fetoprotein and Glycoprotein 96

Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is an oncofetal antigen during hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development which could lead to weak reproducible antitumor immunity, and may act as a target for cancer therapy. Therefore, it is imperative to enhance its immunogenicity and develop therapeutic vaccines to eliminate AFP-expressing tumors. In this study, by way of glutaraldehyde cross-linking, we constructed a potential therapeutic protein vaccine, gp96/AFP. Our results showed that AFP and gp96 induced significant enhancement in specific AFP CD8+ T cells response and distinct cytotoxic antitumor reaction against AFP-expressing tumors. Primimg mice with the reconstructed vaccine, we elicited robust strong protective immunity. Our study suggests that tumor vaccination through cross-linking tumor antigen and gp96 is an encouraging method for cancer immunotherapy.