Experimental comparison of the in vivo efficacy of two novel anticancer therapies

Abstract

Background/Aim: We compared the therapeutic efficacy of two recently developed experimental anticancer technologies: 1) in situ vaccination based on local immunotherapy with CpG oligonucleotides and anti-OX40 antibodies to activate antitumor immune response and 2) "Karanahan" technology [from the Sanskrit kāraa ('source') + han ('to kill')] based on the combined injection of cyclophosphamide and double-stranded DNA to eradicate cancer stem cells. Materials and Methods: The anticancer approaches were compared on three types of mouse malignant tumors with different grades of immunogenicity: weakly immunogenic carcinoma Krebs-2, moderately immunogenic Lewis carcinoma, and highly immunogenic A20 B-cellular lymphoma. Results: Our results indicated that in situ vaccination was the most effective against the highly immunogenic tumor A20. In addition, "Karanahan" demonstrated high efficiency in all types of tumors, regardless of their immunogenicity or size. Conclusion: "Karanahan" therapy showed higher efficacy relative to in situ vaccination with CpG oligonucleotides and anti-OX40 antibodies.