Booster immunizations with DNA plasmids encoding HER-2/neu prevent spontaneous mammary cancer in HER-2/neu transgenic mice over life span

Cancer vaccines are less effective at old than at young age because of immunosenescence. Besides, in preliminary observations we showed that the immunization with HER-2/neu DNA plasmid in transgenic young mice (standard immunization, SI) delays but not abrogate spontaneous mammary tumours progressively appearing during aging. In this study we evaluated whether booster immunizations (BI) of HER-2/neu transgenic mice with HER-2/neu DNA plasmids every 6 (ECD6), 3 (ECD3), or 1.5 (ECD1.5) months after SI induce a protective immunity that could be maintained over life span. The long term BI significantly improved the effect of SI increasing the number of tumour free mice at 110 weeks of age from 13% (SI) to 58% (BI). Both the number and the volume of tumour masses were reduced in BI than in SI groups. The protective effect of BI was associated with increased antibody production with isotype switching to IgG2a, augmented CD4 T cells, and increased in vivo cytotoxicity of HER-2/neu specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes, mainly in ECD1.5 and ECD3 groups. The transfer of sera from ECD1.5 mice to untreated HER-2/neu mice highly protected against tumour development than sera from SI mice. We conclude that BI induce a protective immunity effective over life span.