Neoantigens and shared MICB α3 antigen dual-targeted vaccine generates potent antitumor immunity
Immune suppression is one of the primary obstacles in neoantigen immunotherapy because tumors can rapidly adapt by reducing MHC-I expression or antigen presentation. Here, we developed a novel immunotherapy strategy that combined vaccination of neoantigens with MICB α3 antigen, by using bacterial outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) as a versatile vector and adjuvant. This approach aims to simultaneously induce a neoantigen-specific cellular immune response and an anti-MICB α3 humoral immune response, to enhance the recognition and killing of tumor cells by immune cells. This strategy significantly improves the infiltration of neoantigen-specific T cells and NK cells, and reverses immunosuppression across various preclinical models. Mechanistically, ILC1s characterized by high GZMA/GZMB expression represent the primary subset accumulating within tumors and are responsible for enhancing antitumor immunity, which can induce Gasdermin D cleavage in tumor cells to initiate tumor pyroptosis for a cascade of cancer-immunity cycle. Overall, this study demonstrated that combined neoantigens and shared MICB α3 antigen for tumor vaccination enhances immune efficacy by eliciting ILC1s-mediated tumor pyroptosis and support the rationale and clinical translation for cancer immunotherapy.
Authors
- Haijun Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3398-0880)
- Liman Qiu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4332-1843)
- X Y Liu
- Ruijing Tang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-5129-2097)
- Xiuqing Dong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7510-1904)
- Zhixiong Cai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0912-8372)
- Honghao Ye
- Fen Lin
- Tingfeng Huang
- Jianhua Zou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0718-9128)
- Zhenli Li
- Geng Chen
- Ming Wu
- Gengping Lin
Institutions
- Fujian Medical University (CN)
- National University of Singapore (SG)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Fujian Research Institute of Light Industry (CN)
- Education Department of Fujian Province (CN)
- Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (CN)
- Mengchao Hepatobiliary Hospital (CN)
- Taizhou University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- EMBO Molecular Medicine
- Published
- 2026-04-17
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s44321-026-00424-6
- Primary Topic
- Inflammasome and immune disorders
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China