A novel murine model of allogeneic vaccination against renal cancer.

Abstract

To develop a murine model for whole-cell allogeneic vaccination in renal cancer, as such vaccines aim to direct immune responses against patient tumour cells, due to shared antigens between the vaccine and tumour cells. A novel murine renal cell line, allogeneic to BALB/c, was developed from a C57BL/6 mouse by primary cell culture (RVIK). It was immortalized by HPV16 E6/E7 and transfected with ras in an attempt to improve its immunogenicity. The cell line was characterized and tested as a vaccine in a BALB/c tumour-protection model after subsequent tumour challenge with autologous RenCa tumour cells. RVIK alone, with no ras induced cross-reactive immunity, providing a valid non-tumorigenic allogeneic whole-cell vaccine model for renal cancer. Ras transfection per se did not improve RVIK immunity. RVIK is a novel immunogenic murine renal epithelial cell line, which confers protection when used as an allogeneic vaccine. It provides proof of principle for the effectiveness of allogeneic whole-cell vaccines and may therefore form the basis of a useful model of allogeneic vaccination to further optimize vaccination schedules, formulation and adjuvants for a clinical setting.