Purpose: Because tumor endothelium is rarely targeted by immunity but is critically important for tumor growth, the immunity against tumor endothelium is to be developed as a novel antitumor strategy.

Experimental Design: First, viable human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) were immunized to C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice to evoke specific CTLs as well as antibodies against tumor endothelium. Lewis lung carcinoma or myeloma cells were subsequently inoculated to evaluate the effect on tumor growth by vaccination. Second, the effect on tumor metastasis by vaccination was studied using tumor-resected mice receiving HUVEC immunization 3 days after excision. Third, the immune sera and T lymphocytes from HUVEC-immunized mice were transferred to tumor-bearing mice and added to cultured HUVECs to investigate their antiproliferative effect.

Results: Viable HUVEC immunization showed potent antitumor effects in Lewis lung carcinoma and myeloma tumor models. Both immune sera and CTL inhibited tumor growth and specifically suppressed proliferation of HUVECs. Particularly, tumors entirely disappeared on day 90 after tumor inoculation in four of six tumor-bearing mice receiving CTL therapy. In a metastatic tumor model, we found that the HUVEC vaccination prolonged life span from 30.9 to 41.5 days after tumor resection compared with PBS-treated mice without apparent side effects.

Conclusions: Vaccination with viable HUVECs evoked both humoral and cellular immunity against tumor microvasculature, and therefore significantly inhibited tumor growth and prolonged life span of tumor-resected mice. This may provide with a novel treatment for metastatic tumors. Moreover, we have established a convenient method to evoke specific CTL against tumor angiogenesis.