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Vaccination, as an approach to prostate cancer, has largely focused on immunotherapy utilizing specific molecules or allogeneic cells. Such methods are limited by the focused antigenic menu presented to the immune system and by immunotolerance to antigens recognized as “self”. To examine if a xenogeneic tissue vaccine could stimulate protective immunity in a human prostate cancer cell line, a vaccine was produced by glutaraldehyde fixation of harvested PAIII prostate cancer cells tumors (GFT cell vaccine) from Lobund-Wistar rats. Immunocompetent Ncr-Foxn1 mice were vaccinated with the GFT cell vaccine four times, 7 days apart. The control animals were either not vaccinated or vaccinated with media or glutaraldehyde-fixed PC346C human prostate cancer cells and adjuvant. About 8 days after the final boost, serum and spleens were harvested. The splenocytes were co-incubated with PC346C cells and then transplanted orthotopically into sygneneic immunodeficient nude mice. About 10 weeks later, the prostates were weighed and sampled for histolologic examination. The spleens were harvested from additional mice, and the splenocytes were cultured, either with or without pulsing by GFT cells, and the supernatants harvested 72 h later for cytokine analysis. Results showed that vaccination with GFT cells resulted in increased serum antibody to a PAIII cell lysate; reduced weight of the prostate/seminal vesicle complex and reduced incidence of prostate cancer in nude mice; increased splenocyte supernatant levels of TNF-α, IL-2, IFN-γ and IL-12, cytokines associated with Th1 immunity; and increased splenocyte supernatant levels of IL-4 and IL-10, cytokines associated with Th2 immunity. In summary, the results suggest that use of a xenogeneic tissue vaccine can stimulate protective immunity against human prostate cancer cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing expression of the tissue factor gene in prostate adenocarcinoma cells (PAIII) results in a cell line that, in vivo, mimics the growth of wildtype (wt) PAIII. However, instead of continuing to grow and metastasize as wt PAIII tumors do, tissue factor deficient PAIII (TFD PAIII) masses spontaneously regress after several weeks. Although whole cell vaccines are typically inactivated prior to administration to prevent proliferation within the host, numerous studies have suggested that exposure to live, attenuated, whole tumor cells, and the extracellular microenvironment they recruit, increases immunotherapeutic potential. Here, we provide support for this notion, and a strategy through which to implement it, by demonstrating that subcutaneous vaccinations with the TFD PAIII protect the Lobund–Wistar rat against subsequent wt PAIII cell challenge. TFD PAIII immunized rats suffered significantly less metastasis of wt PAIII challenge tumors compared to unvaccinated naïve controls rats. These results offer the intriguing possibility that the TFD PAIII vaccine is an effective system for the prevention and, possibly, the treatment of prostate cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]