Effective induction of anti-tumor immunity using p5 HER-2/neu derived peptide encapsulated in fusogenic DOTAP cationic liposomes co-administrated with CpG-ODN

Abstract Cationic liposomes have been used as efficient antigen delivery systems for cancer vaccination. The current study has investigated whether the incorporation of the helper-fusogenic lipid dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE) in cationic liposomes composed of 1,2-dioleoyl-3-trimethylammonium propane (DOTAP)–cholesterol enhances the cytosolic delivery of p5 HER-2/neu derived peptide (p5) and promotes cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) response. The p5, which is a very hydrophobic peptide, was encapsulated into liposomes by using three different methods and characterized for their colloidal properties. A chaotropic loading method using 7 M urea provided the highest encapsulation yields. Mice were first immunized with encapsulated p5 in liposomes composed of either DOTAP–cholesterol or DOTAP–cholesterol–DOPE, alone or co-administered with CpG-ODN, as an immunoadjuvant, then, inoculated with a subcutaneous injection of TUBO tumor cells. Results obtained from enzyme-linked immunospot, cytotoxicity and intracellular cytokine assays as well as tumor sizes and animal survival analysis demonstrated that p5 encapsulated in DOTAP–cholesterol–DOPE liposomes co-administered with CpG-ODN greatly enhanced the cytotoxic T lymphocytes response and highly inhibited the tumor progression. The outperformance of DOTAP–cholesterol–DOPE liposomes + CpG-ODN was found to be attributed to its capability in induction of both CD8+ and CD4+ responses. This formulation could be a suitable vaccine candidate against Her2 positive cancers and merits further investigations.