Hit-and-run vaccine system that overcomes limited neoantigen epitopes for efficient broad antitumor response.

A hit-and-run vaccine system, with POx-Hmi/OVA nanovaccine firstly elicit OVA257-264 specific T cell responses, and then PMEBOx-MMP-OVA specifically deliver OVA257-264 peptides to decorate the tumor cell surface, thus results in T cell killing to tumor cells regardless the original surface epitopes. [Display omitted] Neoantigen cancer vaccines have been envisioned as one of the most promising means for cancer therapies. However, identifying neoantigens for tumor types with low tumor mutation burdens continues to limit the effectiveness of neoantigen vaccines. Herein, we proposed a "hit-and-run" vaccine strategy which primes T cells to attack tumor cells decorated with exogenous "neo-antigens". This vaccine strategy utilizes a peptide nanovaccine to elicit antigen-specific T cell responses after tumor-specific decoration with a nanocarrier containing the same peptide antigens. We demonstrated that a poly(2-oxazoline)s (POx) conjugated with OVA 257-264 peptide through a matrix metalloprotease 2 (MMP-2) sensitive linker could efficiently and selectively decorate tumor cells with OVA peptides in vivo. Then, a POx-based nanovaccine containing OVA 257-264 peptides to elicit OVA-specific T cell responses was designed. In combination with this hit-and-run vaccine system, an effective vaccine therapy was demonstrated across tumor types even without OVA antigen expression. This approach provides a promising and uniform vaccine strategy against tumors with a low tumor mutation burden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]