Antitumor Humoral and T Cell Responses by Mucin-1 Conjugates of Bacteriophage Q beta in Wild-type Mice

Mucin-1 (MUC1) is one of the top ranked tumor associated antigens. In order to generate effective anti-MUC1 immune responses as potential anticancer vaccines, MUC1 peptides and glycopeptides have been covalently conjugated to bacteriophage Q beta. Immunization of mice with these constructs led to highly potent antibody responses with IgG titers over one million, which are among the highest anti-MUC1 IgG titers reported to date. Furthermore, the high IgG antibody levels persisted for more than six months. The constructs also elicited MUC1 specific cytotoxic T cells, which can selectively kill MUC1 positive tumor cells. The unique abilities of Q beta-MUC1 conjugates to powerfully induce both antibody and cytotoxic T cell immunity targeting tumor cells bode well for future translation of the constructs as anticancer vaccines.