Objective: To construct the tumor cell vaccine based on homologous matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), and explore its anti-tumor effects.
Methods: The tumor cell vaccine was constructed by transfecting chicken MMP-2 to tumor cells. MTT colorimetric assay was used to evaluate the activation of the transfectants. Then we observed the formative tumor response in vivo and evaluated the effects of the tumour cell vaccine in immunized mice rechallenged with parental cells.
Results: Using RT-PCR, we picked out the cell strain with the highest expression level from the transfectants. The MTT colorimetric assay revealed that the transfectants increased the expression of the MMP-2 of tumor cells while they did not change the trend of tumor cells' growth. And in animal experiments the vaccine was preliminarily found to be effective for inhibiting the tumour growth and prolonging the survival time of animals.
Conclusion: We have constructed the tumor cell vaccine based on homologous matrix metalloproteinase-2. The experiments demonstrated that breaking the immune tolerance of MMP-2 by means of active immunity should be a useful approach to cancer therapy.