Figure 1.

Inhibition of tumor growth and detection of anti-tumor immune response. (a) Schematic diagram of the three DNA vaccines: OS, OsF, and OsFS. (b) Therapeutic setting. BALB/c mice (n = 10) were challenged with 2 × 10⁴ 4T1 tumor cells on day 0 and then treated on days 7, 9, and 12. (c, d) The tumor volume (c) and body weight (d) were measured every two days following tumor challenge for 23 days. (e) Survival time was monitored for 52 days (n = 12). Mean survival times were as follows: Vector (Vec) group = 34.6 days; OS group = 41.6 days; OsF group = 41.2 days; OsFS group = 44.8 days. (f) Splenocytes separated from vaccinated mice were stimulated with FAPα peptides (F peptides), survivin peptidesm (S peptides), and unrelated human MUC1 peptides (NS peptides), and frequencies of antigen specific IFN-γ-secreting T cells were measured using ELISPot. (g) For the in vitro CTL assay, splenocytes of immunized tumor-bearing mice were incubated with P815 cells pulsed with FAP or survivin peptides as target cells at the E:T ratio (ratio of effecter cells to target cells) of 50:1. (h) Serum was collected upon sacrifice. Specific antibodies against survivin and FAPα were detected by ELISA. (*P < .05, **P < .01, ***P < .001, ****P < .0001).