Construction of a fusion plasmid containing the PSCA gene and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte associated antigen-4 (CTLA-4) and its anti-tumor effect in an animal model of prostate cancer

Cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen-4 (CTLA-4) is a negative regulator of T cell activation, which competes with CD28 for B7.1/B7.2 binding, and which has a greater affinity. Fusion of specific antigens to extracellular domain of CTLA4 represents a promising approach to increase the immunogenicity of DNA vaccines. In this study, we evaluated this interesting approach for CTLA4 enhancement on prostate stem cell antigen (PSCA)-specific immune responses and its anti-tumor effects in a prostate cancer mouse model. Consequently, we constructed a DNA vaccine containing the PSCA and the CTLA-4 ...