Therapeutic cancer vaccines are considered as one of the most cost-effective ways to eliminate cancer cells. Although many efforts have been invested into improving their therapeutic effect, transient maturation and activations of dendritic cells (DCs) cause weak responses and hamper the subsequent T cell responses. Here, we report on an alum-stabilized Pickering emulsion (APE) that can load a high number of antigens and continue to release them for extensive maturation and activations of antigen-presenting cells (APCs). After two vaccinations, APE/OVA induced both IFN-γ-secreting T cells (Th1) and IL-4-secreting T cells (Th2), generating effector CD8+ T cells against tumor growth. Additionally, although they boosted the cellular immune responses in the spleen, we found that multiple administrations of cancer vaccines (three or four times in 3-day intervals) may increase the immunosuppression with more PD-1+ CD8+ and LAG-3+ CD8+ T cells within the tumor environment, leading to the diminished overall anti-tumor efficacy. Combining this with anti-PD-1 antibodies evidently hindered the suppressive effect of multiple vaccine administrations, leading to the amplified tumor regression in B16-OVA-bearing mice.
Keywords: adjuvant; alum-stabilized Pickering emulsion; anti-tumor responses; cancer vaccine.