MUC1 and maltose‑binding protein recombinant fusion protein combined with Bacillus Calmette‑Guerin induces MUC1‑specific and nonspecific anti‑tumor immunity in mice

Fang,Fang; Ma,Jichun; Ni,Weihua; Wang,Fengli; Sun,Xiaxia; Li,Yingying; Li,Qiongshu; Xie,Fei; Wang,Juan; Zhai,Ruiping; Liu,Zhonghui; Gao,Sunjun; Tai,Guixiang

doi:10.3892/mmr.2014.2306

MUC1 and maltose‑binding protein recombinant fusion protein combined with Bacillus Calmette‑Guerin induces MUC1‑specific and nonspecific anti‑tumor immunity in mice

Authors:
- Fang Fang
- Jichun Ma
- Weihua Ni
- Fengli Wang
- Xiaxia Sun
- Yingying Li
- Qiongshu Li
- Fei Xie
- Juan Wang
- Ruiping Zhai
- Zhonghui Liu
- Sunjun Gao
- Guixiang Tai
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Affiliations: Department of Immunology, Norman Bethune College of Medicine, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin 130021, P.R. China
Published online on: June 10, 2014 https://doi.org/10.3892/mmr.2014.2306
Pages: 1056-1064

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Abstract

Human mucin 1 (MUC1) is a target for immunotherapy. The major problem associated with MUC1‑based cancer vaccines is the weakness of the immunogenicity of MUC1. The present study aimed to develop an efficient cancer vaccine through generating a recombinant fusion protein consisting of MUC1 and maltose‑binding protein (MBP) by inserting seven tandem repeats encoding the human MUC1 gene into the pMAL‑c2 expression vector. Bacillus Calmette‑Guerin (BCG) was used as an adjuvant. MUC1 was found to predominantly induce T helper type 2 (Th2) cell responses. MUC1/BCG and MUC1‑MBP were found to generate T helper (Th) type 1 and 2 responses, while MUC1‑MBP/BCG induced a Th1 immune profile and stimulated MUC1‑specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte killing activity. MUC1‑MBP, as well as MBP and BCG alone were found to induce natural killer (NK) cell activity, with MUC1‑MBP/BCG observed to synergistically induce NK cell activity. Furthermore, MUC1‑MBP/BCG significantly inhibited MUC1+ B16 cell growth in mice. These findings show that MBP augments the immunogenicity of MUC1 and that BCG enhances the efficacy of the MUC1‑MBP vaccine. Thus, MUC1‑MBP/BCG may have potential as a cancer vaccine for clinical application.

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