Despite remarkable progresses in vaccinology, therapeutic cancer vaccines have not achieved their full potential. We previously showed that the duration of antigen presentation critically affected the quantity and quality of T cell response and subsequent anti‐tumor efficacy. Here we describe L‐tyrosine amino acid‐based microparticles as a novel peptide vaccine adjuvant for the induction of tumor‐specific T cells. L‐tyrosine microparticles did not induce inflammasome activation, but instead extended antigen presentation time. The consequent prolongation in antigen presentation translated into prolonged T cell proliferation and superior numbers and anti‐tumor function of vaccination‐induced CD8+ T cells. Indeed, prolonging antigen presentation by repeated injection of peptide in saline resulted in an increase in T cell numbers similar to that observed after vaccination with peptide/L‐tyrosine microparticles. These results suggest that the duration of antigen presentation is critical for optimal induction of anti‐tumor T cells, and can be manipulated through proper vaccine formulation.
","abstract_html":"<p>Despite remarkable progresses in vaccinology, therapeutic cancer vaccines have not achieved their full potential. We previously showed that the duration of antigen presentation critically affected the quantity and quality of T cell response and subsequent anti‐tumor efficacy. Here we describe L‐tyrosine amino acid‐based microparticles as a novel peptide vaccine adjuvant for the induction of tumor‐specific T cells. L‐tyrosine microparticles did not induce inflammasome activation, but instead extended antigen presentation time. The consequent prolongation in antigen presentation translated into prolonged T cell proliferation and superior numbers and anti‐tumor function of vaccination‐induced CD8+ T cells. Indeed, prolonging antigen presentation by repeated injection of peptide in saline resulted in an increase in T cell numbers similar to that observed after vaccination with peptide/L‐tyrosine microparticles. These results suggest that the duration of antigen presentation is critical for optimal induction of anti‐tumor T cells, and can be manipulated through proper vaccine formulation.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Khong, Hiep","0000-0003-4888-7862
"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)","degree_level":"Dissertation (PhD)","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Willem W. Overwijk","Gregory A. Lizee","Pierre D. McCrea"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2017,"date_issued":"2017-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2017-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:50:47Z","subjects":["adjuvant","CD8 T cell","cancer","vaccine","pmel-1","B16 melanoma","L-tyrosine","Immunology and Infectious Disease","Medicine and Health Sciences"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/utgsbs_dissertations/773","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Willem W. Overwijk","Gregory A. Lizee","Pierre D. McCrea"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Khong, Hiep","0000-0003-4888-7862
"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2018-05-05T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation (PhD)"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["adjuvant","CD8 T cell","cancer","vaccine","pmel-1","B16 melanoma","L-tyrosine","Immunology and Infectious Disease","Medicine and Health Sciences"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/utgsbs_dissertations/773"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Despite remarkable progresses in vaccinology, therapeutic cancer vaccines have not achieved their full potential. We previously showed that the duration of antigen presentation critically affected the quantity and quality of T cell response and subsequent anti‐tumor efficacy. Here we describe L‐tyrosine amino acid‐based microparticles as a novel peptide vaccine adjuvant for the induction of tumor‐specific T cells. L‐tyrosine microparticles did not induce inflammasome activation, but instead extended antigen presentation time. The consequent prolongation in antigen presentation translated into prolonged T cell proliferation and superior numbers and anti‐tumor function of vaccination‐induced CD8+ T cells. Indeed, prolonging antigen presentation by repeated injection of peptide in saline resulted in an increase in T cell numbers similar to that observed after vaccination with peptide/L‐tyrosine microparticles. These results suggest that the duration of antigen presentation is critical for optimal induction of anti‐tumor T cells, and can be manipulated through proper vaccine formulation.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Peptide Vaccine Formulation Controls The Duration of Antigen Presentation and Magnitude of Tumor‐Specific Cd8+ T Cell Response"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Willem W. Overwijk","Gregory A. Lizee","Pierre D. McCrea"],"dc:creator":["Khong, Hiep","0000-0003-4888-7862
"],"dc:date.available":["2018-05-05T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Despite remarkable progresses in vaccinology, therapeutic cancer vaccines have not achieved their full potential. We previously showed that the duration of antigen presentation critically affected the quantity and quality of T cell response and subsequent anti‐tumor efficacy. Here we describe L‐tyrosine amino acid‐based microparticles as a novel peptide vaccine adjuvant for the induction of tumor‐specific T cells. L‐tyrosine microparticles did not induce inflammasome activation, but instead extended antigen presentation time. The consequent prolongation in antigen presentation translated into prolonged T cell proliferation and superior numbers and anti‐tumor function of vaccination‐induced CD8+ T cells. Indeed, prolonging antigen presentation by repeated injection of peptide in saline resulted in an increase in T cell numbers similar to that observed after vaccination with peptide/L‐tyrosine microparticles. These results suggest that the duration of antigen presentation is critical for optimal induction of anti‐tumor T cells, and can be manipulated through proper vaccine formulation.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/utgsbs_dissertations/773"],"dc:subject":["adjuvant","CD8 T cell","cancer","vaccine","pmel-1","B16 melanoma","L-tyrosine","Immunology and Infectious Disease","Medicine and Health Sciences"],"dc:title":["Peptide Vaccine Formulation Controls The Duration of Antigen Presentation and Magnitude of Tumor‐Specific Cd8+ T Cell Response"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation (PhD)"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:50:47Z"}