Evaluation of antibody and T cell responses as well as protective immunity elicited by immunization with different formulations containing the tumor-associated NY-ESO-1 antigen.

C57BL/6 mice were subjected to three immunization doses on days 0, 14 and 28. (A) Serum levels of NY-ESO-1-specific total IgG, IgG1 and IgG2c; and (B) IFN-γ production by splenocytes stimulated with NY-ESO-1 CD4⁺ T and CD8⁺ T peptides cells were evaluated by ELISA. (C) Control and immunized mice were challenged with 5×10⁴ B16F10 melanoma cell expressing or not NY-ESO-1. The tumor growth was evaluated every 4 days for 40 days after challenge. Asterisks indicate that differences in IFN-γ responses to NY-ESO-1 CD4⁺ T and CD8⁺ T cell peptide and tumor growth are statistically significant, when comparing mice receiving different vaccine formulations.