Recombinant adeno-associated virus encoding Epstein-Barr virus latent membrane proteins fused with heat shock protein as a potential vaccine for nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a common cancer in Southern China and EBV is the most important pathogenesis. In this study, we explore the potential that a recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) carrying a fusing gene containing heat shock protein as an adjuvant, EBV latent membrane proteins (LMP1 and LMP2) CTL epitope DNA as a vaccine prevents NPC. The tumor vaccine was devised by constructing a chimeric gene which contained EBV LMPs CTL epitope DNA fused with the heat shock protein gene as a tumor vaccine delivered via rAAV. Our results show that this vaccine can eliminate tumors in syngeneic animals and induce CTL activity in vitro. Taken together, the data suggest that this chimeric gene delivered by rAAV has potential as a NPC vaccine for prevention and therapy. [Mol Cancer Ther 2009;8(9):2754-61]