Functionalisation of Virus-Like Particles Enhances Antitumour Immune Responses

Figure 3

In vivo evaluation of gp100 VLPs. (a) Timeline of cytotoxicity assay. mice were vaccinated on day 0 and 21 with 100 μg VLP, cPBS negative control or gp100 peptide at a molar equivalent to gp100 within gp100.3L, each including 25 μg CpG. On day 28, mice were injected with 1 × 10⁷ fluorescently labelled target cells, either pulsed with human gp100, murine gp100 peptide or left unpulsed. Mice were culled 48 hr after target cell injection, and target cells were analysed. Percentage of specific lysis of (b) human gp100 and (c) murine gp100 target cells normalised against the cPBS group. Statistical significance for cytotoxicity is the comparison between VP60- and gp100-vaccinated mice as determined by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc tests, , . (d) Vaccination strategy: mice were injected s.c. with 5 × 10⁵ B16.gp33 tumour cells. On day 5, mice were vaccinated with 100 μg VLP or cPBS negative control, each including 25 μg CpG. The graphs show the (e) mean tumour growth rate or (f) survival proportions. Significance was determined using a log-rank (Mantel-Cox) test, .

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