Poly(I:C)/c-GAMP/Alum ternary adjuvant system synergistically enhances the immunogenicity of glycopeptide antigen

Abstract

The highly glycosylated mucin 1 (MUC1) serves as a promising target for cancer vaccines. However, the weak immunogenicity of MUC1 greatly impedes its application. Here, we covalently linked a MUC1 glycopeptide to carrier protein bovine serum albumin (BSA), and the resulting BSA-MUC1 conjugate was integrated with a ternary adjuvant system comprising TLR3 agonist poly(I:C), STING agonist c-GAMP, and Alum adjuvant. Compared to adjuvant-free and Alum-adjuvanted groups, the ternary adjuvant group induced 18.3- and 10.9-fold increases in MUC1-specific IgG titers, and effectively suppressed tumor growth. These findings may propose a straightforward yet highly effective strategy for designing vaccines, offering promising prospects in cancer treatment.

Graphical abstract

Keywords:

• Cancer vaccine
• c-GAMP
• MUC1
• MUC1 glycopeptide
• poly(I:C)
• ternary adjuvant system

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22177035), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (CCNU22JC007), and Program of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities of China (111 program, B17019).