Fig. 3

Effect of CD4+ or CD8+ T cell depletion on the antitumor response of synthetic HPV-16 E7aa 43-62 long peptide vaccine. 100 μg of purified rat monoclonal antibody GK1.5 (anti-CD4) or mAB 2.43 (anti-CD8) were injected intraperitoneally 2 days before tumor injection. The injections were repeated once per day for 2 days until the day of tumor challenge. On the day of tumor challenge, 3 × 10⁴ TC-1-Luc cells were submucosally injected into the right buccal area of C57BL/6 mice (five per group). Three days after tumor injection, mice were vaccinated intratumorally with or without 50 μg of synthetic HPV-16 E7aa 43-62 peptide for four times in a 4-day intervals. Mice also continued to receive anti-CD4 or anti-CD8 antibody injections once every week after tumor injection. a Schematic diagram of treatment regimens. b Line graph depicting the change in mean luminescence intensity of tumor bearing mice after tumor injection with or without CD8 depletion (mean ± SD). c Kaplan–Meier survival analysis of mice in CD8 depletion experiment. d Line graph depicting the change in mean luminescence intensity of tumor bearing mice after tumor injection with or without CD4 depletion (mean ± SD). e Kaplan–Meier survival analysis of mice in CD4 depletion experiment. NS indicates not significant