Tumor-Specific CD8⁺ T-Cell Responses Induced by DNA Vaccination

DNA vaccines assisted by electroporation efficiently trigger antitumor cytotoxic CD8⁺ T cell responses in preclinical cancer models and hold potential for human use. They can be easily engineered to express either tumor-associated self-antigens, which are broadly expressed among tumor patients but also in healthy tissue, or tumor-specific neoantigens, which are uniquely expressed in tumors and differ among patients. Recently, it has been demonstrated that DNA vaccination generates both circulating and tissue-resident compartments of CD8⁺ T cells, which act concertedly against tumors. Here we describe the steps to obtain and test DNA vaccines against models of self-antigens and neoantigens in mice. It includes the evaluation of effector and memory CD8⁺ T cell responses, as well as assessing the antitumor potential in vivo using transplantable syngeneic tumor models.