Abstract IA016: Vaccine approach for the interception of colon cancer
Authors: Disis Mary , Liu Ying , Corulli Lauren , Rodmaker Erin , Cecil Denise 
Published: January 2023

This year, in the US, an estimated 150,000 people will be diagnosed with colon cancer and ~52,000 will die of the disease. A vaccine approach is well suited to colon cancer prevention. First, a limited number of immunizations can be given over a short period of time to achieve a desired immune response. If immunologic memory develops, antigen specific T-cells will persist in the body for years, ready to be deployed when aberrant cells are detected. Finally, there are several well-defined high-risk populations that would be suitable for testing a preventative colon cancer vaccine including individuals (1) with a hereditary genetic syndrome such as familial adenomatous polyposis, (2) with a history of inflammatory bowel disease such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, and (3) those with a history of hyperplastic colonic polyps. Vaccines targeting virally mediated cancers are effective, in part, because T-cells are primed to proteins involved in oncogenesis. The most common type of colon adenoma and invasive cancer associated antigens are non-mutated growth-related proteins that become markedly overexpressed in the disease state. Genes which are aberrantly up-regulated and conserved from adenoma to invasive colon carcinoma may encode overexpressed proteins that are associated with colon cancer initiation. Evaluating gene expression data derived from over 600 colorectal cancers, matched normal tissues, and colon adenomas we identified 160 genes overexpressed in the majority of adenomas and early-stage colon cancers, but not in normal tissues. Using siRNA screening we demonstrated 35 of those genes, when silenced, resulted in apoptosis or inhibition of growth of colon cancer cells and an adenoma cell line but not a non-neoplastic colon cell line. Of those genes, 16 have been shown to encode proteins that are overexpressed in both adenomas and colon cancer and are associated with disease progression and over a third of these proteins are immunogenic. These proteins could serve as potential candidate antigens for inclusion in a multi-antigen vaccine. Recently, we have identified epitopes within the natural sequences of non-mutated tumor antigens that only generate Th1 (Th1 selective) antigen specific T-cells. This discovery and the development of high throughput methods to both identify and screen putative Class II binding peptides for Th selective function has allowed us to develop antigen specific Th1 selective vaccines. A vaccine targeting CDC25B, COX2, and EGFR can inhibit intestinal tumor formation in both APCmin mice and mice with tumor induced by AOM. Concomitant use of NSAIDs potentiates the immune response generated with vaccination. The anti-tumor response observed after vaccination is significantly correlated with elevated CD8 T-cells found in the lesions and induced by immunization as well as high magnitude antigen specific T-cells identified in the spleen. These data validate a genomic approach to antigen discovery and anti-tumor efficacy of Th1 selective vaccines for colon cancer prevention.

Citation Format: Mary Disis, Ying Liu, Lauren Corulli, Erin Rodmaker, Denise Cecil. Vaccine approach for the interception of colon cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Precision Prevention, Early Detection, and Interception of Cancer; 2022 Nov 17-19; Austin, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Can Prev Res 2023;16(1 Suppl): Abstract nr IA016.