Antitumor effects of iPSC-based cancer vaccine in pancreatic cancer

• DOI: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2021.04.004
• Publication Date: 2021-05-06T20:11:18Z
• Authors: Xiaoming Ouyang; Yu Liu; Yang Zhou; Jing Guo; Tzu-Tang Wei; Chun Liu; Bomi Lee; Binbin Chen; Angela Zhang; Kerriann M. Casey; Lin Wang; Nigel G. Kooreman; Aida Habtezion; Edgar G. Engleman; Joseph C. Wu
• Keywords: Cancer Immunotherapy

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and cancer cells share cellular similarities and transcriptomic profiles. Here, we show that an iPSC-based cancer vaccine, comprised of autologous iPSCs and CpG, stimulated cytotoxic antitumor CD8+ T cell effector and memory responses, induced cancer-specific humoral immune responses, reduced immunosuppressive CD4+ T regulatory cells, and prevented tumor formation in 75% of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) mice. We demonstrate that shared gene expression profiles of "iPSC-cancer signature genes" and others are overexpressed in mouse and human iPSC lines, PDAC cells, and multiple human solid tumor types compared with normal tissues. These results support further studies of iPSC vaccination in PDAC in preclinical and clinical models and in other cancer types that have low mutational burdens.