Antiangiogenic immunotherapy targeting Flk-1, DNA vaccine and adoptive T cell transfer, inhibits ocular neovascularization

Ocular neovascularization (NV) is the primary cause of blindness in a wide range of ocular diseases. The exact mechanism underlying the pathogenesis of ocular NV is not yet well understood, and so there is no satisfactory therapy for ocular NV. Here, we describe a strategy targeting Flk-1, a self-antigen overexpressed on proliferating endothelial cells in ocular NV, by antiangiogenic immunotherapy-DNA vaccine and adoptive T cell therapy. An oral DNA vaccine encoding Flk-1 carried by attenuated Salmonella typhimurium markedly suppressed development of laser-induced choroidal NV. We further demonstrated that adoptive transfer of vaccine-induced CD8⁺ T cells reduced pathological preretinal NV, with a concomitant facilitation of physiological revascularization after oxygen-induced retinal vessel obliteration. However, physiological retinal vascular development was unaffected in neonatal mice transferred with vaccine-induced CD8⁺ T cells. These findings suggested that antiangiogenic immunotherapy targeting Flk-1 such as vaccination and adoptive immunotherapy may contribute to future therapies for ocular NV.