Androgen Ablation Augments Prostate Cancer Vaccine Immunogenicity Only When Applied After Immunization
February 15th, 2009 Posted in prostate cancerIn the online edition of The Prostate, a group of researchers from the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center at USC reported on the relationship between androgen ablation (AA) and the efficacy of vaccine immunogenicity.
In the AA setting, testosterone-mediated immune suppression is reduced and prostate antigens are released. Dendritic cells (DC) are specialized antigen presenting cells that migrate to the periphery to “capture’ antigens and process them into polypeptides, migrate into lymphoid organs and present the antigens to lymphocytes.
The effect of AA on DC has not previously been reported. In this study, the researchers tested the effect of AA on DC when using prostate stem cell antigen (PSCA), a cell surface protein as a PSCA-targeted vaccination strategy.