Mucin MUC1, a large membrane glycoprotein, is expressed on almost all epithelial tissues. In tumor cells, MUC1 is over-expressed and aberrantly glycosylated. So MUC1 glycopeptide is considered as promising antigen for the development of tumor vaccine.
MUC1 glycopeptides have weak immunogenicity. To overcome this problem, extra stimulant is needed to induce strong immune response. And a novel thioether-ligation method for the synthesis of glycopeptide vaccines containing T-cell epitopes and the Pam3Cys lipopeptide was developed. These vaccines can induce strong immune responses and produce high levels of IgG1, IgG3, and IgG2a. Moreover, the antibodies have strong affinity to MCF-7 cells and can initiate the killing of the tumor cells through activation of the complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) of rabbit.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (20825206 and 21028004) and by the Sino-German Center for Research Promotion (GZ561).
References
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