The Development of Vaccines from Synthetic Tumor-Associated Mucin Glycopeptides and their Glycosylation-Dependent Immune Response.

Tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens are overexpressed as altered-self in most common epithelial cancers. Their glycosylation patterns differ from those of healthy cells, functioning as an ID for cancer cells. Scientists have been developing anti-cancer vaccines based on mucin glycopeptides, yet the interplay of delivery system, adjuvant and tumor associated MUC epitopes in the induced immune response is not well understood. The current state of the art suggests that the identity, abundancy and location of the glycans on the MUC backbone are all key parameters in the cellular and humoral response. This review shares lessons learned by us in over two decades of research in glycopeptide vaccines. By bridging synthetic chemistry and immunology, we discuss efforts in designing synthetic MUC1/4/16 vaccines and focus on the role of glycosylation patterns. We provide a brief introduction into the mechanisms of the immune system and aim to promote the development of cancer subunit vaccines.

Evaluation of a novel monoclonal antibody against tumor-associated MUC1 for diagnosis and prognosis of breast cancer.

There is still a great unmet medical need concerning diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer which could be addressed by utilizing specific molecular targets. Tumor-associated MUC1 is expressed on over 90 % of all breast cancer entities and differs strongly from its physiological form on epithelial cells, therefore presenting a unique target for breast cancer diagnosis and antibody-mediated immune therapy. Utilizing an anti-tumor vaccine based on a synthetically prepared glycopeptide, we generated a monoclonal antibody (mAb) GGSK-1/30, selectively recognizing human tumor-associated MUC1. This antibody targets exclusively tumor-associated MUC1 in the absence of any binding to MUC1 on healthy epithelial cells thus enabling the generation of breast tumor-specific radiolabeled immune therapeutic tools. Methods: MAb GGSK-1/30 was used for immunohistochemical analysis of human breast cancer tissue. Its desferrioxamine (Df')-conjugate was synthesized and labelled with 89Zr. [89Zr]Zr-Df'-GGSK-1/30 was evaluated as a potential PET tracer. Binding and pharmacokinetic properties of [89Zr]Zr-Df'-GGSK-1/30 were analyzed in vitro using human and murine cell lines that express tumor-associated MUC1. Self-generated primary murine breast cancer cells expressing human tumor-associated MUC1 were transplanted subcutaneously in wild type and human MUC1-transgenic mice. The pharmacology of [89Zr]Zr-Df'-GGSK-1/30 was investigated using breast tumor-bearing mice in vivo by PET/MRT imaging as well as by ex vivo organ biodistribution analysis. Results: The mAb GGSK-1/30 stained specifically human breast tumor tissue and can be possibly used to predict the severity of disease progression based on the expression of the tumor-associated MUC1. For in vivo imaging, the Df'-conjugated mAb was radiolabeled with a radiochemical yield of 60 %, a radiochemical purity of 95 % and an apparent specific activity of 6.1 GBq/µmol. After 7 d, stabilities of 84 % in human serum and of 93 % in saline were observed. In vitro cell studies showed strong binding to human tumor-associated MUC1 expressing breast cancer cells. The breast tumor-bearing mice showed an in vivo tumor uptake of >50 %ID/g and clearly visible specific enrichment of the radioconjugate via PET/MRT. Principal conclusions: Tumor-associated MUC1 is a very important biomarker for breast cancer next to the traditional markers estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and HER/2-neu. The mAb GGSK-1/30 can be used for the diagnosis of over 90% of breast cancers, including triple negative breast cancer based on biopsy staining. Its radioimmunoconjugate represents a promising PET-tracer for breast cancer imaging selectively targeting breast cancer cells.

Protein kinase CK2 governs the molecular decision between encephalitogenic TH17 cell and Treg cell development.

T helper 17 (TH17) cells represent a discrete TH cell subset instrumental in the immune response to extracellular bacteria and fungi. However, TH17 cells are considered to be detrimentally involved in autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS). In contrast to TH17 cells, regulatory T (Treg) cells were shown to be pivotal in the maintenance of peripheral tolerance. Thus, the balance between Treg cells and TH17 cells determines the severity of a TH17 cell-driven disease and therefore is a promising target for treating autoimmune diseases. However, the molecular mechanisms controlling this balance are still unclear. Here, we report that pharmacological inhibition as well as genetic ablation of the protein kinase CK2 (CK2) ameliorates experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) severity and relapse incidence. Furthermore, CK2 inhibition or genetic ablation prevents TH17 cell development and promotes the generation of Treg cells. Molecularly, inhibition of CK2 leads to reduced STAT3 phosphorylation and strongly attenuated expression of the IL-23 receptor, IL-17, and GM-CSF. Thus, these results identify CK2 as a nodal point in TH17 cell development and suggest this kinase as a potential therapeutic target to treat TH17 cell-driven autoimmune responses.

Synthetic MUC1 Antitumor Vaccine with Incorporated 2,3-Sialyl-T Carbohydrate Antigen Inducing Strong Immune Responses with Isotype Specificity.

The endothelial glycoprotein MUC1 is known to underlie alterations in cancer by means of aberrant glycosylation accompanied by changes in morphology. The heavily shortened glycans induce a collapse of the peptide backbone and enable accessibility of the latter to immune cells, rendering it a tumor-associated antigen. Synthetic vaccines based on MUC1 tandem repeat motifs, comprising tumor-associated 2,3-sialyl-T antigen, conjugated to the immunostimulating tetanus toxoid, are reported herein. Immunization with these vaccines in a simple water/oil emulsion produced a strong immune response in mice to which stimulation with complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) was not superior. In both cases, high levels of IgG1 and IgG2a/b were induced in C57BL/6 mice. Additional glycosylation in the immunodominant PDTRP domain led to improved binding of the induced antisera to MCF-7 breast tumor cells, compared with that of the monoglycosylated peptide vaccine.

Microarray Analysis of Antibodies Induced with Synthetic Antitumor Vaccines: Specificity against Diverse Mucin Core Structures.

Glycoprotein research is pivotal for vaccine development and biomarker discovery. Many successful methodologies for reliably increasing the antigenicity toward tumor-associated glycopeptide structures have been reported. Deeper insights into the quality and specificity of the raised polyclonal, humoral reactions are often not addressed, despite the fact that an immunological memory, which produces antibodies with cross-reactivity to epitopes exposed on healthy cells, may cause autoimmune diseases. In the current work, three MUC1 antitumor vaccine candidates conjugated with different immune stimulants are evaluated immunologically. For assessment of the influence of the immune stimulant on antibody recognition, a comprehensive library of mucin 1 glycopeptides (>100 entries) is synthesized and employed in antibody microarray profiling; these range from small tumor-associated glycans (TN , STN , and T-antigen structures) to heavily extended O-glycan core structures (type-1 and type-2 elongated core 1-3 tri-, tetra-, and hexasaccharides) glycosylated in variable density at the five different sites of the MUC1 tandem repeat. This is one of the most extensive glycopeptide libraries ever made through total synthesis. On tumor cells, the core 2 ß-1,6-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase-1 (C2GlcNAcT-1) is down-regulated, resulting in lower amounts of the branched core 2 structures, which favor formation of linear core 1 or core 3 structures, and in particular, truncated tumor-associated antigen structures. The core 2 structures are commonly found on healthy cells and the elucidation of antibody cross-reactivity to such epitopes may predict the tumor-selectivity and safety of synthetic vaccines. With the extended mucin core structures in hand, antibody cross-reactivity toward the branched core 2 glycopeptide epitopes is explored. It is observed that the induced antibodies recognize MUC1 peptides with very high glycosylation site specificity. The nature of the antibody response is characteristically different for antibodies directed to glycosylation sites in either the immune-dominant PDTR or the GSTA domain. All antibody sera show high reactivity to the tumor-associated saccharide structures on MUC1. Extensive glycosylation with branched core 2 structures, typically found on healthy cells, abolishes antibody recognition of the antisera and suggests that all vaccine conjugates preferentially induce a tumor-specific humoral immune response.

Polymeric Selectin Ligands Mimicking Complex Carbohydrates: From Selectin Binders to Modifiers of Macrophage Migration.

Novel polymeric cell adhesion inhibitors were developed in which the selectin tetrasaccharide sialyl-LewisX (SLeX ) is multivalently presented on a biocompatible poly(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide (PHPMA) backbone either alone (P1) or in combination with O-sulfated tyramine side chains (P2). For comparison, corresponding polymeric glycomimetics were prepared in which the crucial "single carbohydrate" substructures fucose, galactose, and sialic acid side chains were randomly linked to the PHPMA backbone (P3 or P4 (O-sulfated tyramine)). All polymers have an identical degree of polymerization, as they are derived from the same precursor polymer. Binding assays to selectins, to activated endothelial cells, and to macrophages show that polyHPMA with SLeX is an excellent binder to E-, L-, and P-selectins. However, mimetic P4 can also achieve close to comparable binding affinities in in vitro measurements and surprisingly, it also significantly inhibits the migration of macrophages; this provides new perspectives for the therapy of severe inflammatory diseases.

Synthetic MUC1 Antitumor Vaccine Candidates with Varied Glycosylation Pattern Bearing R/S-configured Pam3 CysSerLys4.

The Toll-like receptor 2 ligand Pam3 CysSer is of particular interest for the construction synthetic vaccines because of its ability to stimulate of the innate immune system. Such vaccines usually comprise Pam3 CysSer with the natural R-configuration at the glycerol 2-position. Pam3 CysSer peptide vaccines with natural configuration have been shown to be more efficient than the corresponding R/S diastereomers. In order to clarify whether the effect of the configuration of Pam3 Cys on the immune response also applies to glycopeptide vaccines, MUC1 glycopeptide-lipopeptide vaccines bearing either R- or R/S-configured Pam3 CysSerLys4 were compared for their immunological effects. In order to find out whether glycosylated MUC1 tandem repeat domains comprise not only B-cell epitopes but also T-cell epitopes, two-component vaccines containing the Pam3 CysSerLys4 lipopeptide and MUC1 glycopeptides with various glycosylation patterns were synthesized, and their immune reactions in mice were studied.

Glycopeptide-functionalized gold nanoparticles for antibody induction against the tumor associated mucin-1 glycoprotein.

We report the preparation of gold nanoparticle (AuNP)-based vaccine candidates against the tumor-associated form of the mucin-1 (MUC1) glycoprotein. Chimeric peptides, consisting of a glycopeptide sequence derived from MUC1 and the T-cell epitope P30 sequence were immobilized on PEGylated AuNPs and the ability to induce selective antibodies in vivo was investigated. After immunization, mice showed significant MHC-II mediated immune responses and their antisera recognized human MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Nanoparticles designed according to this report may become key players in the development of anticancer vaccines.

A Synthetic Glycopeptide Vaccine for the Induction of a Monoclonal Antibody that Differentiates between Normal and Tumor Mammary Cells and Enables the Diagnosis of Human Pancreatic Cancer.

In studies within the realm of cancer immunotherapy, the synthesis of exactly specified tumor-associated glycopeptide antigens is shown to be a key strategy for obtaining a highly selective biological reagent, that is, a monoclonal antibody that completely differentiates between tumor and normal epithelial cells and specifically marks the tumor cells in pancreas tumors. Mucin MUC1, which is overexpressed in many prevalent cancers, was identified as a promising target for this strategy. Tumor-associated MUC1 differs significantly from that expressed by normal cells, in particular by altered glycosylation. Structurally defined tumor-associated MUC1 cannot be isolated from tumor cells. We synthesized MUC1-glycopeptide vaccines and analyzed their structure-activity relationships in immunizations; a monoclonal antibody that specifically distinguishes between human normal and tumor epithelial cells was thus generated.

Antibody induction directed against the tumor-associated MUC4 glycoprotein.

Mucin glycoproteins are important diagnostic and therapeutic targets for cancer treatment. Although several strategies have been developed to explore anti-tumor vaccines based on MUC1 glycopeptides, only few studies have focused on vaccines directed against the tumor-associated MUC4 glycoprotein. MUC4 is an important tumor marker overexpressed in lung cancer and uniquely expressed in pancreatic ductual adenocarcinoma. The aberrant glycosylation of MUC4 in tumor cells results in an exposure of its peptide backbone and the formation of tumor-associated glycopeptide antigens. Due to the low immunogenicity of these endogenous structures, their conjugation with immune stimulating peptide or protein carriers are required. In this study, MUC4 tandem-repeat glycopeptides were conjugated to the tetanus toxoid and used for vaccination of mice. Immunological evaluations showed that our MUC4-based vaccines induced very strong antigen-specific immune responses. In addition, antibody binding epitope analysis on glycopeptide microarrays, were demonstrating a clear glycosylation site dependence of the induced antibodies.

A fully synthetic glycopeptide antitumor vaccine based on multiple antigen presentation on a hyperbranched polymer.

For antitumor vaccines both the selected tumor-associated antigen, as well as the mode of its presentation, affect the immune response. According to the principle of multiple antigen presentation, a tumor-associated MUC1 glycopeptide combined with the immunostimulating T-cell epitope P2 from tetanus toxoid was coupled to a multi-functionalized hyperbranched polyglycerol by "click chemistry". This globular polymeric carrier has a flexible dendrimer-like structure, which allows optimal antigen presentation to the immune system. The resulting fully synthetic vaccine induced strong immune responses in mice and IgG antibodies recognizing human breast-cancer cells.

The development of synthetic antitumour vaccines from mucin glycopeptide antigens.

Based on important cell-biological and biochemical results concerning the structural difference between membrane glycoproteins of normal epithelial cells and epithelial tumour cells, tumour-associated glycopeptide antigens have been chemically synthesised and structurally confirmed. Glycopeptide structures of the tandem repeat sequence of mucin MUC1 of epithelial tumour cells constitute the most promising tumour-associated antigens. In order to generate a sufficient immunogenicity of these endogenous structures, usually tolerated by the immune system, these synthetic glycopeptide antigens were conjugated to immune stimulating components: in fully synthetic two-component vaccines either with T-cell peptide epitopes or with Toll-like receptor2 lipopeptide ligands or in three-component vaccines with both these stimulants. Alternatively, the synthetic glycopeptide antigens were coupled to immune stimulating carrier proteins. In particular, MUC1 glycopeptide conjugates with Tetanus toxoid proved to be efficient vaccines inducing very strong immune responses in mice. The antibodies elicited with the fully synthetic vaccines showed selective recognition of the tumour-associated glycopeptides as was shown by neutralisation and micro-array binding experiments. After booster immunisations, most of the immune responses showed the installation of an immunological memory. Immunisation with fully synthetic three-component vaccines induced immune reactions with therapeutic effects in terms of reduction of the tumour burden in mice or in killing of tumour cells in culture, while MUC1 glycopeptide-Tetanus toxoid vaccines elicited antibodies in mice which recognised tumour cells in human tumour tissues. The results achieved so far are considered to be promising for the development of an active immunisation against tumours.

A fully synthetic four-component antitumor vaccine consisting of a mucin glycopeptide antigen combined with three different T-helper-cell epitopes.

In a new concept of fully synthetic vaccines, the role of T-helper cells is emphasized. Here, a synthetic antitumor vaccine consisting of a diglycosylated tumor-associated MUC1 glycopeptide as the B-cell epitope was covalently cross-linked with three different T-helper-cell epitopes via squaric acid ligation of two linear (glyco)peptides. In mice this four-component vaccine administered without external immune-stimulating promoters elicit titers of MUC1-specific antibodies that were about eight times higher than those induced by a vaccine containing only one T-helper-cell epitope. The promising results indicate that multiple activation of different T-helper cells is useful for applications in which increased immunogenicity is required. In personalized medicine, in particular, this flexible construction of a vaccine can serve as a role model, for example, when T-helper-cell epitopes are needed that match human leukocyte antigens (HLA) in different patients.

Synthetic multivalent glycopeptide-lipopeptide antitumor vaccines: impact of the cluster effect on the killing of tumor cells.

Multivalent synthetic vaccines were obtained by solid-phase synthesis of tumor-associated MUC1 glycopeptide antigens and their coupling to a Pam3 Cys lipopeptide through click reactions. These vaccines elicited immune responses in mice without the use of any external adjuvant. The vaccine containing four copies of a MUC1 sialyl-TN antigen showed a significant cluster effect. It induced in mice prevailing IgG2a antibodies, which bind to MCF-7 breast tumor cells and initiate the killing of these tumor cells by activation of the complement-dependent cytotoxicity complex.

Natural product and material chemistries--separated forever?

Chemistry research is an eloquent, yet extremely complex discipline consisting of a diverse range of topics. The complexity of every sub-discipline requires extensive focus, which can limit cross-talk between fields, thus leading to their isolation. In particular, natural product and material chemistries have experienced this trend, and it has led to an ever growing separation between them. Yet by looking at the fundamental aspect of the relationship between molecular design and the resulting properties, it is possible to remind chemists of their ability to bridge these research areas. It is intradisciplinary collaborations that can provide a path toward collectively addressing the many challenges of chemistry.

C-Glycosyl amino acids through hydroboration-cross-coupling of exo-glycals and their application in automated solid-phase synthesis.

O-Glycosylation is one of the most important post-translational modifications of proteins. The attachment of carbohydrates to the peptide backbone influences the conformation as well as the solubility of the conjugates and can even be essential for binding to specific ligands in cell-cell interactions or for active transport over membranes. This makes glycopeptides an interesting class of compounds for medical applications. To enhance the long-term availability of these molecules in vivo, the stabilization of the glycosidic bond between the amino acid residue and the carbohydrate is of interest. The described modular approach affords ß-linked C-glycosyl amino acids by a sequence of Petasis olefination of glyconolactones, stereoselective hydroboration and a mild B-alkyl-Suzuki coupling reaction. The coupling products were transformed to C-glycosyl amino acid building-blocks suitable for solid-phase synthesis and successfully incorporated into a partial sequence of the tumor-associated MUC1-glycopeptide. The resulting C-glycopeptides are candidates for the development of long-term stable mimics of O-glycopeptide vaccines.

Fully synthetic self-adjuvanting thioether-conjugated glycopeptide-lipopeptide antitumor vaccines for the induction of complement-dependent cytotoxicity against tumor cells.

Glycopeptides of tumor-associated mucin MUC1 are promising target structures for the development of antitumor vaccines. Because these endogenous structures were weakly immunogenic, they were coupled to immune-response-stimulating T-cell epitopes and the Pam(3)Cys lipopeptide to induce strong immune responses in mice. A new thioether-ligation method for the synthesis of two- and three-component vaccines that contain MUC1 glycopeptides as the B-cell epitopes, a T-cell epitope peptide, and the Pam(3)CSK(4) lipopeptide is described. The resulting fully synthetic vaccines were used for the vaccination of mice, either in a liposome with Freund's adjuvant or in aqueous PBS buffer. The three-component vaccines that contained the Tetanus Toxoid P2 T-cell epitope peptide induced strong immune responses, even when administered just in PBS. By activation of the complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) complex, the antisera induced the killing of tumor cells.

Water-soluble polymers coupled with glycopeptide antigens and T-cell epitopes as potential antitumor vaccines.

Highly decorated: Tumor-associated MUC1 glycopeptide and tetanus toxoid T-cell epitope P2 can be attached to water-soluble poly(N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide) carriers by orthogonal ligation techniques. Fully synthetic vaccine A with additional nanostructure-promoting domains induced antibodies that exhibit high affinity to tumor cells.

Self-adjuvanting synthetic antitumor vaccines from MUC1 glycopeptides conjugated to T-cell epitopes from tetanus toxoid.

The T-helper epitope peptide P30 (green in the scheme) from tetanus toxoid was used as the immunostimulant in MUC1 glycopeptide antitumor vaccines and apparently also acts as a built-in adjuvant. P30-conjugated glycopeptide vaccines containing three glycans in the immunodominant motifs PDTRP and GSTAP induced much stronger immune responses and complement dependent cytotoxicity mediated killing of tumor cells when applied in plain PBS solution without complete Freund's adjuvant.

Towards a fully synthetic MUC1-based anticancer vaccine: efficient conjugation of glycopeptides with mono-, di-, and tetravalent lipopeptides using click chemistry.

The membrane-bound tumor-associated glycoprotein MUC1 is aberrantly glycosylated in cancer cells compared with normal cells, and is therefore considered an attractive target for cancer immunotherapy. However, tumor-associated glycopeptides from MUC1 do not elicit a sufficiently robust immune response. Therefore, antitumor vaccines were developed, which consist of MUC1 glycopeptides as the B epitopes and immune-stimulating toll-like receptor 2 (TLR 2) lipopeptide ligands. These fully synthetic vaccine candidates were prepared by solid-phase synthesis of the MUC1 glycopeptides. The Pam(3) Cys lipopeptide, also synthesized on solid-phase, was C-terminally coupled to oligovalent lysine cores, which N-terminally incorporate O-propargyl oligoethylene glycol acyl side chains. The MUC1 glycopeptides and lipopeptide lysine constructs were then conjugated by click chemistry to give oligovalent synthetic vaccines. Oligovalent glycopeptide-lipopeptide conjugates are considered more immunogenic than their monovalent analogues.