Figure 2
Characterization of antitumor effects and E7-specific CD8+ T cell immune responses in tumor-bearing mice treated with HPV-16 E7 DNA vaccine in combination with DMXAA. (A) Schematic diagram of the immunization regimen of the CRT/E7 DNA vaccine and/or DMXAA. 5-8 weeks old C57BL/6 mice (5 per group) were challenged with 1 × 105 TC-1 tumor cells subcutaneously, and were vaccinated with pcDNA3-CRT/E7 DNA vaccine or control vectors, and either treated with DMXAA or left untreated as indicated. Tumor volume was monitored with calipers twice a week. One week after last vaccination, splenocytes from tumor-bearing mice were harvested and characterized for E7-specific CD8+ T cells using intracellular IFN-γ staining followed by flow cytometry analysis. A) Line graph depicting the tumor volume in TC-1 tumor bearing mice treated with the various regimens (mean+ s.e.) B) Bar graph depicting the number of E7-specific IFNγ+ CD8+ T cells per 3 × 105 splenocytes ± SEM following DNA vaccination +/- DMXAA treatment. The data shown here are from one representative experiment of two performed.