Deepak K. Kadayakkara1,
Hyam I. Levitsky1, Jeff W.M. Bulte2, 3
1Department
of Oncology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States; 2Cellular
Imaging Section, Institute for Cell Engineering,, Johns Hopkins University,
Baltimore, MD, United States; 3MRI research division, Johns
Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
We evaluated the effects of novel adjuvants in cancer vaccines using non-invasive imaging. Magnetovaccination and MRI were used to evaluate dendritic cell-mediated antigen capture and delivery to regional lymph nodes. The ensuing effector immune response mediated by T cells was studied by antigen-specific transgenic T cells and bioluminescence imaging. We show that, unexpectedly, adjuvants reduced antigen delivery to lymph nodes; however they induced a more effective tumor therapeutic response suggesting an alternate and hitherto unreported pathway for T cell expansion and accumulation.