Author

Peter Knopick

Date of Award

January 2018

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Biomedical Sciences

First Advisor

David Bradley

Abstract

Immunotherapies have evolved into a collection of tools used clinically in the treatment of several pathologies. Staphylococcal enterotoxin G and I are potent T cell activators that drive multifaceted immune responses and have been implicated in antitumor responses. The addition of SEG and SEI as useful immunotherapies could be underappreciated as mice do not respond as humans would to superantigen stimulation. HLA-DQ8 mice with established B16-F10 tumors receiving 50μg each SEG and SEI 6 and 9 days post tumor implant resulted in 80% progression free survival >300 days. In comparison, allogeneic C57BL/6 mice did not benefit from SEG/SEI therapy. Remarkably, 100% of HLA-DQ8 mice survived rechallenge with 250,000 live B16-F10 cells >200 days post implant. In addition, SEG/SEI boosted an irradiated cell vaccine response against LLC in HLA-DQ8 mice resulting in 100% protection. However, SEG/SEI did not provide the same benefit against established Lewis lung carcinoma. The data presented herein demonstrate SEG and SEI elicit antitumor responses against melanoma and support further investigation into clinical application.

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