WO2013006050A1

WO2013006050A1 - Peptides inducing or enhancing an immune response against prostate-specific membrane protein (PSMA)

Info

Publication number: WO2013006050A1
Application number: PCT/NL2012/050469
Authority: WO
Inventors: Gerardus Johannes Platenburg; Wilhelmus Johannes Theodorus Alexander KREBBER; Cornelis Joseph Maria Melief
Original assignee: Isa Pharmaceuticals B.V.
Priority date: 2011-07-06
Filing date: 2012-07-03
Publication date: 2013-01-10
Also published as: WO2013006050A9

Abstract

The present invention relates to the fields of medicine and immunology. In particular, it relates to novel peptides that may be used in the treatment, prevention and/or delay of a PSMA related disease or condition.

Description

Peptides inducing or enhancing an immune response against prostate-specific membrane protein (PSMA)

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Prostate Specific membrane Antigen (PSMA) is a type II transmembrane protein of 750 amino acids in length with an intracellular domain of 19 amino acids, a transmembrane region of 24 amino acids and a glycosylated extracellular domain of 707 amino acids (Yong Li et al, 2010; Fishman, 2009; Bouchelouche and Capala, 2010). PSMA is specifically expressed on normal prostate epithelial cells and is strongly upregulated in prostate cancer. Unlike prostate specific antigen (PSA), PSMA is not released into the body fluids, making it a good target for monoclonal antibody mediated imaging and therapeutic targeting (Bouchelouche and Capala, 2010). It is also a good target for T cell based immunotherapy of prostate cancer (Fishman, 2009). Several monoclonal antibodies were developed against the extracellular domain of PSMA and studies have demonstrated excellent imaging quality in prostate cancer patients using radiolabeled anti-PSMA antibodies with good tumor to background ratio's (Bouchelouche and Capala, 2010). Because PSMA has defined enzymatic activity (folate hydrolase and carboxypeptidase II activity, reviewed in Yong Li et al,

2010) , radio-labeled small molecule inhibitors of enzyme activity have also been used successfully for patient imaging (Bouchelouche and Capala, 2010). Initial attempts at radio-immunotherapy with radiolabeled monoclonal antibodies showed good targeting to most tumor sites with reversible myelotoxicity (Bouchelouche and Capala, 2010). Effective targeting of prostate cancer cells was also achieved in SCID mice grafted with human prostate cancer cells and repopulated with human CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T lymphocytes with a PSMAxCD3 bispecific single chain diabody (Fortmiiller et al,

2011) . Induction of specific T cells by active vaccination against PSMA was tried by various approaches (Fishman, 2009), including DNA vaccination and vaccination with Dendritic cells pulsed with two HLA-A2 -binding PSMA peptides (DC-vax prostate, Northwest therapeutics). While these vaccinations have induced immune responses and PSA responses, no long term patient benefit was reported. From the immunological standpoint, loading of DC with exact HLA class I -binding peptides is suboptimal, first because of the absence of HLA class II-binding T-helper peptides, which are required for optimal boosting and induction of CD8⁺ T cell memory responses in the vaccine and secondly, because this limites the patient population to those with expression of HLA-A2, reducing the eligible patient population to approximately 40% of all patients with hormone-resistant prostate cancer. Moreover this vaccine concept does not use the full array of HLA class I and II molecules potentially capable of presenting PSMA sequences.

There is thus still a need for improved agents for the treatment, prevention and/or delay of PSMA related diseases or conditions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides for a peptide comprising at least 17 contiguous amino acids and at most 100 amino acids from the amino acids sequence of a prostate- specific membrane antigen (PSMA), wherein the contiguous amino acid sequence comprises a T-cell epitope from said PSMA.

According to an embodiment, the peptide according to the invention is a peptide wherein its length is 17-45 amino acids, preferably 19-43 amino acids, more preferably 22-40 amino acids and even more preferably 31-37 amino acids.

According to an embodiment, the peptide according to the invention is a peptide wherein the T-cell epitope is selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 24- 998.

According to an embodiment, the peptide according to the invention comprises at least two T-cell epitopes from PMSA, preferably at least two T-cell epitopes selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 24-998.

According to an embodiment, the peptide according to the invention comprises at least one HLA class I-restricted CD8⁺ T-cell epitope and at least one HLA class II- restricted CD4⁺ T-helper epitope, preferably at least one HLA class I-restricted CD8⁺ T-cell epitope selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 24-804 and at least one HLA class Il-restricted CD4⁺ T-helper epitope selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 805-998. According to an embodiment, the peptide according to the invention is a peptide selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 4-23.

The present invention further provides a polynucleotide encoding a peptide according to the invention.

The present invention further provides a cell comprising the polynucleotide according to the invention.

The present invention further provides a method for the preparation of a PSMA specific T-cell, said method comprising contacting a T-cell with an antigen presenting cell expressing a polynucleotide according to the invention and/or contacting a T-cell with an antigen presenting cell loaded with a peptide according to the invention. The present invention further provides a T-cell obtainable by said method.

The present invention further provides a composition comprising a peptide, a polynucleotide and/or a cell according to the invention and/or a cell obtainable or obtained by a method according to the invention and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. Preferably, said composition further comprises at least one adjuvant.

The present invention further provides a peptide, a composition, a polynucleotide and/or a cell according to the invention and/or a cell obtained or obtainable by a method according to the invention for use as a medicament.

The present invention further provides a method for the prevention, treatment and/or delay of a PSMA related disease or condition comprising administering to a subject an effective amount of a peptide, a composition, a polynucleotide and/or a cell according to the invention and/or a cell obtained or obtainable by a method according to the invention.

The present invention further provides a peptide, a composition, a polynucleotide and/or a cell according to the invention and/or a cell obtained or obtainable by a method according to the invention for the treatment, prevention and/or delay of a PSMA related disease or condition.

The present invention further provides the use of a peptide, a composition, a polynucleotide and/or a cell according to the invention and/or a cell obtained or obtainable by a method according to the invention for the manufacturing of a medicament for the treatment, prevention and/or delay of a PSMA related disease or condition. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The use of relatively short peptides is highly preferred for medical purposes as these can be synthesized in vitro efficiently, which is not possible or uneconomical for native proteins larger than approximately 100, i.e. 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105 amino acids. Chemical synthesis of peptides is routine practice and various suitable methods are known to the skilled person. Chemical synthesis of peptides also overcomes the problems associated with recombinant production of intact proteins, which is difficult to standardize and requires extensive purification and quality control measures. Peptides with a length that exceeds the length of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I and class II epitopes (e.g. having a length as indicated below herein) are particularly advantageous for use as vaccine component because they are large enough to be taken up by professional antigen presenting cells, in particular DC, as explained in WO02/070006 and processed in the DC before cell surface presentation of the contained HLA class I-presented and HLA class Il-presented epitopes takes place. Therefore, the disadvantageous induction of T cell tolerance by the systemic presentation of minimal HLA class I-presented epitopes on non-antigen presenting cells (as shown in Toes et al, 1996, Proc.Natl.Acad.Sci.U.S.A 93 :7855 and Toes et al, 1996, J. Immunol. 156:391 1), is prevented by the application of peptides according to the invention having a length as indicated herein (as shown in Zwaveling et al., 2002, J. Immunol. 169:350). Peptides comprising epitopes which are to be presented to T-cell receptors of cytotoxic CD8⁺ T-cells and/or CD4⁺ T-helper cells preferably have sufficient length to contain both HLA class I-presented and HLA class Il-presented epitopes.

In addition to this, the inventors perceived that the CD8⁺ T cell epitopes and CD4⁺ T helper cell epitopes are not evenly distributed within the PSMA protein sequence, but are clustered in multiple hotspots. The inventors have identified the most immunogenic regions in the PSMA protein and devised peptides according to the invention according to these most immunogenic regions. Apart from the immunogenicity of the peptides according to the present invention being optimal, also the population coverage of peptides according to the invention with respect to all possible HLA haplotypes within the population is optimal.

Accordingly, in a first aspect the present invention provides a peptide comprising at least 17 contiguous amino acids and at most 100 amino acids from the amino acids sequence of a prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), wherein the contiguous amino acid sequence comprises a T-cell epitope from said PSMA. Since a peptide according to the invention exceeds the length of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I and class II epitopes, the peptide according to the invention is also referred to herein as synthetic long peptide (SLP).

A T-cell epitope is herein defined as an antigenic determinant of a polypeptide antigen, which is recognized and bound by a T-cell receptor after being made accessible to a T-cell receptor by proteolytic processing of the polypeptide antigen. A T-cell epitope preferably comprises at least 6, 7 or 8 amino acids and at most 13, 14, 15 orl6 amino acids. Examples of T-cell epitopes are HLA class I-restricted CD8⁺ T cell epitopes and HLA class Il-restricted CD4⁺ T-helper cell epitopes. A T-cell epitope may be identified by in silico methods, such epitope may be depicted as a predicted epitope, or may be identified by experimental analysis using methods known in the art.

PSMA herein preferably is a human PSMA; a preferred amino acid sequence of a human PSMA is a sequence having at least 70%, 75%, 80, 85%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99%, 100% identity with the sequence depicted in SEQ ID NO: 1; a preferred coding sequence is a sequence having at least 70%, 75%, 80, 85%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99%, 100% identity with the sequence depicted in SEQ ID NO: 2 and a preferred genomic DNA sequence is a sequence having at least 70%, 75%, 80, 85%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99%, 100% identity with the sequence depicted in SEQ ID NO: 3. Percentage of identity is herein preferably determined by calculating the ratio of the number of identical nucleotides/amino acids in the sequence divided by the length of the total nucleotides/amino acids of said sequence, preferably minus the lengths of any gaps. The minimal length of a relevant amino acid sequence showing 70% or higher identity level should preferably be about 40 amino acids (aa), more preferably about 50 amino acids, more preferably about 70 amino acids, more preferably about 100 amino acids, more preferably about 150 amino acids, more preferably about 250 amino acids, more preferably about 300 amino acids, more preferably about 350 amino acids, more preferably about 400 amino acids, more preferably about 450 amino acids, or longer. The minimal length of a relevant polynucleotide sequence showing 70% or higher identity level should preferably be about 120 nucleotides, more preferably about 150 nucleotides, more preferably about 210 nucleotides, more preferably about 300 nucleotides, more preferably about 450 nucleotides, more preferably about 750 nucleotides, more preferably about 900 nucleotides, more preferably about 1050 nucleotides, more preferably about 1200 nucleotides, more preferably about 1350 nucleotides, or longer. Preferably, the sequence identity is calculated over the entire sequence of SEQ ID NO : 1 , 2, or 3.

Within the context of the present invention, "a peptide which comprises at most 100 amino acids" preferably means that the number of consecutive amino acids originating from PSMA and present in a peptide as defined herein, is 100 aa, 98 aa, 96 aa, 94 aa, 92 aa, 90 aa or less. Therefore, by definition, a peptide according to the invention is distinct from a full length PSMA. The length of the peptide, preferably is at least 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 or 45 amino acids and/or preferably no more than 100, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 91, 90, 89, 88, 87, 86, 85, 84, 83, 82, 81, 80, 60, 50, 45, 44, 43, 42, 41, 40, 39, 38, 37, 36, 35, 34, 33, 32, 31, or 30 amino acids. More preferably the length of the peptide is 17-45, even more preferably 22-40 amino acids, even more preferably 28-40 and most preferably 31-37 amino acids. A peptide according to the invention may comprise additional amino acids than the ones originating from a PSMA or may entirely be made of or consist of an amino acid sequence originating from a PSMA. A peptide according to the invention may comprise several parts of non-contiguous amino acid sequences from a PSMA. The length of the contiguous amino acid sequence from PSMA comprised within the peptide, preferably is at least 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 or 45 amino acids and/or preferably no more than 100, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 91, 90, 89, 88, 87, 86, 85, 84, 83, 82, 81, 80, 60, 50, 45, 44, 43, 42, 41, 40, 39, 38, 37, 36, 35, 34, 33, 32, 31, or 30 amino acids. More preferably the length of the contiguous amino acid sequence from PSMA comprised within the peptide is 17-45, even more preferably 22- 40 amino acids, even more preferably 28-40 and most preferably 31-37 amino acids.

According to an embodiment, the peptide according to the invention consists of any of the contiguous amino acid sequence from PMSA as defined herein, whereby it is understood that no amino acids are appended to either end of the contiguous amino acid sequence from the PSMA that are not contiguous with this amino acid sequence in the sequence of the native PSMA. According to another embodiment, the peptide according to the invention comprises any of the contiguous amino acid sequence from PMSA as defined herein and further comprises a modified amino acid and/or a functional group such as a fluorinated group, a human toll-like receptor ligand and/or agonist, an oligonucleotide conjugate, PSA, a sugar chains or glycan, a pam3cys and/or derivative therof, preferably a pam3cys lipopeptide or variant or derivative thereof, CpG, a DC pulse cassette, a tetanus toxin derived peptide; either within the peptide or appended to the peptide. Prevention, treatment and delay of a PSMA related disease or condition is preferably defined as an anti-tumor effect on tumors that express PSMA, which can be prostate tumors or tumors of non-prostate origin overexpressing PSMA. An anti-tumor effect is preferably identified as:

- an activation or an induction of the systemic immune system: detectable and/or an increase in tumor specific activated CD4⁺ or CD8⁺ T-cells in peripheral blood or an increase thereof or of the cytokines produced by these T-cells after at least one week of treatment and/or

- an inhibition of proliferation of tumor cells or a detectable decrease of proliferation of tumor cells or a decrease in cell viability of tumor cells, which is equivalent to a decrease in tumor cell survival and/or

- an induction or increased induction of tumor cell death and/or

- an inhibition or prevention or delay of the increase of a tumor weight or growth and/or

- a prevention or delay in occurrence of metastases and/or of tumor cell migration, and/or

- a prevention of tumor recurrence and/or

- a prolongation of patient survival of at least one month, several months or more (compared to those not treated or treated with a control or compared with the subject at the onset of the treatment). In all embodiment of the present invention, a subject is preferably a mammal, more preferably a human.

In the context of the invention, a patient may survive and may be considered as being disease free. Alternatively, the disease or condition may have been stopped or delayed or regressed. A significant increase of tumor-specific activated CD4 or CD8 cells in peripheral blood after at least one week of treatment may be of at least 5%, 10%, 20%, 30% or more. An inhibition of the proliferation of tumor cells may be at least 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70% or 75%, or more. An induction of tumor cell death may be at least 1%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, or more. Tumor growth may be inhibited at least 5%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70% or 75%, or more. In certain embodiments, tumor weight increase may be inhibited at least 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70% or 75%, or more. In certain embodiments, tumor growth may be delayed at least one week, one month, two months or more. A delay in occurrence of metastases and/or of tumor cell migration may be a delay of at least one week, one month, several months, one year or longer.

In each embodiment wherein the effect of a peptide, a composition, a polynucleotide and/or a cell according to the invention and/or a cell obtained or obtainable by a method according to the invention is quantified, the assay may be carried out by comparison to a subject not treated or to the same subject before treatment. A tumor can be a solid tumor or a non-solid tumor such as lymphoma. Some types of tumors that can be treated using the present invention are extensively identified later herein. The tumors can be hormone-sensitive or hormone resistant prostate tumors that express PSMA or non-prostate tumors that over-express PSMA

A peptide according to the invention comprising epitopes which are to be presented to T cell receptors of CD8⁺ cytotoxic T cells and/or CD4⁺ T-helper cells preferably fulfill a number of requirements. The peptides preferably have sufficient length to contain both HLA class I and HLA class II epitopes. Furthermore, the peptides preferably comprise anchor residues within their HLA class I-binding and HLA class Il-binding parts to enable binding to the class I and class II molecules, respectively. The stability of the interaction between peptide and presenting HLA molecule preferably is sufficient in order to generate a significant and effective immune response. In the context of the present invention, the stability of the interaction between peptide and presenting HLA molecule therefore preferably is such that the peptide has an intermediate to high affinity binding, whereby the binding affinity of a peptide for an HLA molecule is determined for example using an assay as described in van der Burg et al., 1995 and Kessler et al, 2003; e.g. IC₅₀≤ about 5 μΜ may be considered high affinity binding, about 5 μΜ < IC₅o ≤ about 15 μΜ may be considered intermediate affinity binding, about 15 μΜ < IC₅o < 100 μΜ may be considered low affinity binding and IC50 > about 100 μΜ may be considered as no binding.

A specific proteasomal cleavage site generating the C-terminus of the epitope, preferably is present exactly after the epitope amino acid sequence in order to be liberated from the larger peptide and presented on the HLA class I molecule. The dominant event that defines a CTL epitope is the release of the epitope (or epitope- precursor) from its flanking protein regions through enzymatic digestion by cytosolic peptidases. The multi catalytic proteasome is the primary enzyme complex required for the generation of the exact C-terminus of the vast majority of CTL epitopes (Rock et al, 2004, Nat. Immunol. 5:670). The generation of the amino-terminus of a CTL epitope, on the other hand, is much more flexible because several amino-terminal exo- peptidases (like ERAPl, puromycin sensitive aminopeptidase, bleomycin hydrolase and others) reside in the cytosol and endoplasmic reticulum and those trimming enzymes have the capacity to shorten an N-terminal elongated epitope-precursor to its precise length. In contrast, C-terminal trimming has not been reported. Therefore, assessment of proteasomal cleavage sites in the PSMA protein identifies the C-termini of endogenously produced PSMA peptide fragments.

Length requirements are much less strict for HLA class II presented epitopes. Therefore, there is no need for precise enzymatic generation of the class II binding peptide. These requirements have been used in the present invention to localize and design peptides (see example) in the full length sequences of a PSMA protein which comprises preferred CD8⁺ T cell and CD4⁺ T-helper cell epitopes and/or combinations thereof and are thus highly suitable peptides for vaccination purposes.

Moreover, in vitro and ex vivo T cell experiments are preferably used to confirm the capability of peptides according to the invention to induce substantial CD4⁺ T-helper and CD8⁺ cytotoxic T cell responses. The peptides of the present invention thereby provide a marked improvement in the selection of relatively short peptides that may be chemically synthesized, comprising the most potent and most widely applicable HLA class I and/or class II presented T cell epitopes derived from PSMA. The peptides are particularly optimized with respect to their proteasomal cleavage and preferably contain at least one of HLA class I and HLA class II epitopes and more preferably both HLA class I and class II epitopes. The liberation of the C-termini of CD8⁺ T cell epitopes epitopes contained within the peptides of the invention by the 20S proteasome provides HLA class I binding fragments with CD8⁺ T cell stimulatory capacity. The

HLA class I epitopes in the peptides according to the invention are preferably capable of being presented on HLA alleles that are predominant in the population of human subjects to be treated. Preferred HLA class I epitopes in peptides according to the invention are epitopes capable of binding to: HLA-A0101 ; HLA-A0201 ; HLA-A0202;

HLA-A0203; HLA-A0206; HLA-A0211 ; HLA-A0212; HLA-A0216; HLA-A0219;

HLA-A0250; HLA-A0301 ; HLA- Al 101 ; HLA-A2301; HLA-A2402; HLA-A2403;

HLA-A2501 ; HLA-A2601 ; HLA-A2602; HLA-A2603; HLA-A2902; HLA-A3001 ; HLA-A3002; HLA-A3101 ; HLA-A3201 ; HLA-A3301; HLA-A6801 ; HLA-A6802;

HLA-A6901 ; HLA-A8001 ; HLA-B0702; HLA-B0801; HLA-B0802; HLA-B0803;

HLA-B1501 ; HLA-B1502; HLA-B1503; HLA-B1509; HLA-B1517; HLA-B1801 ;

HLA-B2705; HLA-B3501 ; HLA-B3801 ; HLA-B3901; HLA-B4001 ; HLA-B4002;

HLA-B4402; HLA-B4403; HLA-B4501 ; HLA-B4601; HLA-B4801 ; HLA-B5101 ; HLA-B5301 ; HLA-B5401 ; HLA-B5701 ; and HLA-B5801

The HLA class I-restricted epitope in a peptide according to the invention preferably is predicted to be generated at its C-terminus by the proteasome and preferably has a predicted high peptide affinity binding capacity for the HLA class I molecule; e.g. IC50≤ about 5 μΜ may be considered high affinity binding, about 5 μΜ < IC₅o≤ about 15 μΜ may be considered intermediate affinity binding, about 15 μΜ <

IC₅o≤ 100 μΜ may be considered low affinity binding and IC50 > about 100 μΜ may be considered as no binding.

The skilled person will understand that even if this application does not identify each peptide that can be designed as comprising a desired epitope as defined herein, nevertheless the invention encompasses any peptide as defined herein comprising an epitope as identified herein. In an embodiment, a peptide is distinct from a contiguous sequence of amino acids of PSMA.

A peptide according to the invention comprising a T-cell epitope from PSMA may be modified by deletion or substitution of one or more amino acids, by extension at the N- and/or C-terminus with additional amino acids or functional groups, which may improve bio-availability, targeting to T-cells, or comprise or release immune modulating substances that provide adjuvant or (co) stimulatory functions. The optional additional amino acids at the N- and/or C-terminus are preferably not present in the corresponding positions in the native amino acid sequence of PSMA.

A peptide according to the invention comprising a T-cell epitope specific for PSMA is obtainable by chemical synthesis and subsequent purification according to methods well-known in the art. (see e.g. Atherton et al., 1989; Baraby et al, 1979; Fields et al, 1997). A peptide according to the invention is preferably soluble in physiologically acceptable watery solutions (e.g. PBS) comprising no more than 35, 20, 10, 5 or 0% DMSO. In such a solution the peptide according to the invention is preferably soluble at a concentration of at least 0.5, 1, 2, 4, or 8 mg peptide per ml. More preferably, a mixture of more than one different peptide according to the invention is soluble at a concentration of at least 0.5, 1, 2, 4, or 8 mg peptide per ml in such solutions.

The peptides according to the invention may be easily synthesized and are large enough to be taken up by professional antigen presenting cells, processed by the proteasome and preferably have sufficient length to contain at least one to preferably up to 57 HLA class I-restricted CD8⁺ T cell epitopes and/or at least one to preferably up to 27 HLA class Il-restricted CD4⁺ T-helper epitopes as defined later herein. Optionally, a peptide according to the invention may comprise N- or C-terminal extensions, which may be amino acids, modified amino acids or other functional groups that may for instance enhance bio-availability, cellular uptake, processing and/or solubility.

Preferably, a peptide according to the invention comprises a T-cell epitope selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 24-998.

A more preferred peptide according to the invention comprises at least 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82 and to up to 83 T-cell epitopes from PSMA. An even more preferred peptide according to the invention comprises at least 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82 and to up to 83 T-cell epitopes selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 24-998.

Preferably, a peptide according to the invention comprises at least one HLA class Il-restricted CD4⁺ T-helper cell epitope from PSMA. Preferably, a HLA class II- restricted CD4⁺ T-helper cell epitope comprised in a peptide according to the invention is capable of inducing or activating a CD4⁺ T-helper cell in a human patient with a PSMA related disease or condition, such as prostate cancer, breast cancer, clear cell renal carcinoma and other cancers where PSMA is found in the neovasculature and/or in a healthy control. The induction or activation is preferably assessed ex vivo or in vivo, more preferably in a human patient with a PSMA related disease or condition. Most preferably, the HLA class Il-restricted epitope is capable of activating a CD4⁺ T- helper memory and/or CD4⁺ T-helper effector response, i.e. activation of a CD45RO- positive CD4⁺ T-helper cell. This will lead, by virtue of the 'license to kill' signal through CD40-triggering of DC (Lanzavecchia, 1998) to a more robust CD8⁺ effector and memory cytotoxic T cell response. In another setting the activated CD4⁺ T-helper cells may activate non-HLA restricted killer cells of the immune system.

Preferably, a peptide according to the invention comprises at least an HLA class I-restricted CD8⁺ T-cell epitope from PSMA. In addition, said HLA class I-restricted epitope is preferably capable of activating a CD8⁺ T cell response. Most preferably, the CD8⁺ T cell activating capability has been demonstrated ex vivo and/or in vivo, in human healthy control individuals or even more preferably in a human patient with aPSMA related disease or condition and/or a healthy control. The activation is preferably assessed ex vivo or in vivo, more preferably in a human patient with a PSMA related disease or condition.

Preferably, a peptide according to the invention comprises both an HLA class I- restricted CD8⁺ T cell epitope and an HLA class Il-restricted CD4⁺ T-helper epitope from PSMA. The presence of both an HLA class I-restricted and a HLA class Il- restricted epitope within a single peptide has been observed to be particularly advantageous due to synergy in mounting and maintaining an effective CD8⁺ T cell response.

Accordingly, a preferred peptide according to the invention comprises at least one HLA class I-restricted CD8⁺ T cell epitope and at least one HLA class Il-restricted CD4⁺ T-helper epitope; preferably at least one HLA class I-restricted CD8⁺ T-cell epitope selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 24-804 and at least one HLA class II-restricted CD4⁺ T-helper epitope selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 805-998. More preferably, a peptide according to the invention comprises at least 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55 and to up to 56 HLA class I-restricted CD8⁺ T-cell epitopes selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 24-804 and at least 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 and to up to 27 HLA class II-restricted CD4⁺ T-helper epitopes selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 805-998. Even more preferably, a peptide according to the invention comprises between 25 and 56 HLA class I-restricted CD8⁺ T-cell epitopes selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 24-804 and between 1 and 25 HLA class II-restricted CD4⁺ T-helper epitopes selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 805-998.

Preferably, a peptide according to the invention is a peptide comprising a peptide with an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of:

- a fragment of 17 to 33 amino acids of SEQ ID NO: 4, preferably contiguous amino acids,

- a fragment of 17 to 35 amino acids of SEQ ID NO: 5, preferably contiguous amino acids,

- a fragment of 17 to 36 amino acids of SEQ ID NO: 6, preferably contiguous amino acids,

- a fragment of 17 to 37 amino acids of SEQ ID NO: 7, preferably contiguous amino acids,

- a fragment of 17 to 33 amino acids of SEQ ID NO: 8, preferably contiguous amino acids,

- a fragment of 17 to 36 amino acids of SEQ ID NO: 9, preferably contiguous amino acids,

- a fragment of 17 to 37 amino acids of SEQ ID NO: 10, preferably contiguous amino acids,

- a fragment of 17 to 32 amino acids of SEQ ID NO: 11, preferably contiguous amino acids, - a fragment of 17 to 31 amino acids of SEQ ID NO: 12, preferably contiguous amino acids,

- a fragment of 17 to 34 amino acids of SEQ ID NO: 13, preferably contiguous amino acids,

- a fragment of 17 to 33 amino acids of SEQ ID NO: 14, preferably contiguous amino acids,

- a fragment of 17 to 35 amino acids of SEQ ID NO: 15, preferably contiguous amino acids,

- a fragment of 17 to 32 amino acids of SEQ ID NO: 16, preferably contiguous amino acids,

- a fragment of 17 to 33 amino acids of SEQ ID NO: 17, preferably contiguous amino acids,

- a fragment of 17 to 33 amino acids of SEQ ID NO: 18, preferably contiguous amino acids,

- a fragment of 17 to 36 amino acids of SEQ ID NO: 19, preferably contiguous amino acids,

- a fragment of 17 to 34 amino acids of SEQ ID NO: 20, preferably contiguous amino acids,

- a fragment of 17 to 34 amino acids of SEQ ID NO: 21, preferably contiguous amino acids,

- a fragment of 17 to 35 amino acids of SEQ ID NO: 22, preferably contiguous amino acids, and

- a fragment of 17 to 34 amino acids of SEQ ID NO: 23, preferably contiguous amino acids

; wherein the length of the preferably contiguous amino acid sequence is preferably at least 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, or 31 amino acids and/or preferably no more than 36, 35, 34, 33, 32, 31, 30, 29, 28, 27, 26, 25, 24, 23, 22, 21, 20, 19, 18, 17 amino acids. More preferably, a peptide according to the invention is a peptide comprising a peptide selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 4-23, more preferably comprising a peptide selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 11 and 14, even more preferably a peptide comprising a peptide selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 5-10, 13, 16-17, 22 and 23 and even more preferably a peptide comprising a peptide selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 4, 12, 15, 18-21. A most preferred peptide according to the invention is a peptide selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 4-23; more preferably, a peptide selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 11 and 14, even more preferably a peptide selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 5-10, 13, 16-17, 22 and 23 and even more preferably a peptide selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 4, 12, 15, 18-21.

In a second aspect, the invention provides a polynucleotide encoding a peptide according to the invention, preferably a peptide as defined herein above. Preferably, the polynucleotide according to the invention does not encode a wild-type full length PSMA, preferably a polypeptide with the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, or a polypeptide with an amino acid sequence that has at least 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99%, 100% sequence identity with SEQ ID NO: 1, but rather encode a peptide according to the invention as such, or flanked by amino acid sequence that are not contiguous with a wild-type PSMA. Such flanking amino acids may be from proteins other than a wild-type PSMA and/or they may be from other locations within a wild-type PSMA that are not contiguous with the peptide they flank. Preferably, the polynucleotide encodes two or more peptides according to the invention arranged as beads-on-string, whereby the peptides according to the invention (the beads) are linked directly together and/or are linked through linker sequences that are from proteins other than a wild-type PSMA and/or from other locations within a wild-type PSMA that are not contiguous with the peptide they flank. The amino acid sequences flanking or linking the peptides may comprise proteolytic cleavage sites. A polynucleotide according to the invention may be applied to deliver a peptide according to the invention in various ways. A polynucleotide according to the invention may e.g. be used in the production of recombinant protein or peptide in a suitable host cell (e.g. a bacterial host cell such as E. coli, a suitable yeast host cell such as S. cerevisiae, a suitable filamentous fungal such as an Aspergillus or mammalian host cell) from which the recombinant protein or peptide may be purified. Alternatively the polynucleotide may be operably linked to expression regulatory sequences (promoters and the like) and incorporated in an expression construct for human cells. Such (autologous) cells may be transfected or transduced ex vivo to be (re)- administered to a subject in need thereof. Alternatively such expression construct according to the invention may be incorporated into suitable gene therapy vector. Viral vectors (based on a defective virus) are more efficient agents for gene transfer as compared to non-viral agents. Suitable viral expression constructs include e.g. vectors that are based on adenovirus, adeno-associated virus (AAV), retroviruses or modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA). The polynucleotide according to the invention may also be operably linked to a sequence encoding and adjuvant such as a Toll-like receptor(TLR) ligand, a NOD ligand, or a RIG-I ligand.

In a third aspect, the present invention provides a cell comprising the polynucleotide according to the second aspect of the invention. Such cell can be used for e.g. production of a peptide according to the invention or for medical purposes such as prevention, treatment and/or delay of a PSMA related disease or condition as defined elsewhere herein. Said cell may be any host cell. For the specific applications such as described here above, the selection of the host cell may be made according to such use. The host cell may be a prokaryote or may be a eukaryote. A preferred prokaryote cell is E. coli. When the cell is a eukaryote, the cell preferably is a mammalian, insect, plant, fungal, or algal cell. Preferred mammalian cells include e.g. Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, COS cells, 293 cells, PerC6 cells, and antigen presenting cells such as dendritic cells. Preferred insect cells include e.g. Sf9 and Sf21 cells and derivatives thereof. Preferred fungal cells include Candida, Hansenula, Kluyveromyces, Pichia, Saccharomyces, Schizosaccharomyces, Yarrowia and filamentous fungal cells. Most preferably, the eukaryotic cell is a human antigen presenting cell, preferably a dendritic cell.

Methods to introduce a polynucleotide into a cell are known to the person skilled in the art. When expression of the polynucleotide is desired, the person skilled in the art knows how to achieve such; the polynucleotide may e.g. be provided with proper control sequences such as a promoter and terminator sequence and may be inserted into a proper vector such as a plasmid or a method described in the second aspect of the invention may be used.

The present invention also provides for an antigen presented cell such as a dendritic cell as defined earlier herein that has been contacted and/or loaded with a peptide according to the invention, preferably a peptide according to the first aspect of the present invention. Such preferably autologous dendritic cell may be used for immune therapeutic treatment of a subject in need thereof. Such dendritic cell can be isolated from the subject, loaded with at least one peptide according to the invention and used for treatment.

In a fourth aspect, the present invention provides a method for the preparation of a PSMA specific T-cell, said method comprising contacting a T-cell with an antigen presenting cell expressing a polynucleotide according to the invention and/or contacting a T-cell with an antigen presenting cell loaded with a peptide according to the invention; and, optionally, culturing said T-cell. The T-cell is preferably a CD8⁺ cytotoxic T-cell or a CD4⁺ T-helper cell.

Contacting a cell with a polynucleotide may be performed using any method known to the person skilled in the art, preferably a polynucleotide according to the invention is introduced into the antigen presenting cell, preferably a dendritic cell, using transfection. Before contacting, the polynucleotide according to the invention may be provided with proper control sequences, or be comprised into a proper vector such as described elsewhere herein.

Contacting a T-cell with a peptide according to the invention can be performed by any method known to the person skilled in the art. Preferably, a peptide or an epitope comprised in a peptide is presented to the CD8⁺ T-cell or CD4⁺ T-helper cell by an HLA class I or an HLA class II molecule on the surface of an antigen presenting cell, preferably a dendritic cell. The person skilled in the art knows how to load an antigen presenting cell with a peptide.

Culturing said T-cell may be performed using any method known by the person skilled in the art. Maintaining a T-cell under conditions to keep the cell alive is herein also to be construed to be culturing.

Preferably, the T-cell according to this aspect of the invention is contacted with a peptide according to the invention as defined in the first aspect of the invention.

In a fifth aspect, the present invention provides a T-cell obtainable by the method depicted in the fourth aspect of the present invention. Preferably, such T-cell is a T-cell that is obtained by the method according to the fourth aspect of the invention. The T-cell is preferably a CD8 cytotoxic T-cell or a CD4⁺ T-helper cell. Preferably, the T-cell according to this aspect of the invention has been contacted with a peptide according to the invention as defined in the first aspect of the invention. In a sixth aspect, the present invention provides compositions useful for the prevention, treatment and/or delay of a PSMA related disease or condition, comprising a peptide according to the invention and/or a polynucleotide according to the invention and/or a cell, preferably a T-cell, according to the invention and/or a cell, preferably a T-cell, obtained by the method according to the fourth aspect of the invention and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.

When comprising a peptide according to the invention, the composition according to the invention preferably comprises at least 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and up to 20 different peptides according to the invention. Preferably, a composition according to the invention comprises a peptide according to the invention as defined in the first aspect of the invention.

When comprising a polynucleotide according to the present invention, the composition according to the invention preferably comprises at least 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and up to 20 different polynucleotides according to the invention. Preferably, a composition according to the invention comprises a polynucleotide according to the invention as defined in the second aspect of the invention.

When comprising a cell according to the invention, the composition according to the invention preferably comprises at least 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and up to 20 different cells, preferably T-cells that have been contacted with a peptide according to the invention. Preferably, said T-cells have been contacted with a peptide according to the invention as defined in the first aspect of the invention. The T-cell is preferably a CD8 cytotoxic T-cell or a CD4⁺ T-helper cell..

A pharmaceutically acceptable carrier can be any such carrier known to the person skilled in the art, e.g. buffered aqueous solutions at physiological ionic strength and/or osmolarity (such as e.g. PBS).

Preferably, a composition according to the present invention further comprises at least one adjuvant. Such adjuvant may be any adjuvant known to the person skilled in the art. Preferred adjuvants are defined later herein. A preferred use of a peptide, polynucleotide, composition, cell and/or T-cell according to the invention or a T-cell obtainable or obtained by a method according to the invention is the use as a medicament. A specific preferred use of a peptide, polynucleotide, composition, cell and/or T-cell according to the invention or a T-cell obtainable or obtained by a method according to the invention is for the treatment, prevention and/or delay of a PSMA related disease or condition. Accordingly, the invention provides for the use of a peptide, polynucleotide, composition, cell and/or T- cell according to the invention or a T-cell obtainable or obtained by a method according to the invention for the manufacturing of a medicament for the treatment, prevention and/or delay of a PSMA related disease or condition.

The invention further provides a method for the prevention, treatment and/or delay of a PSMA related disease or condition comprising administering to a subject an effective amount of a peptide, polynucleotide, composition, cell or T-cell according to the invention and/or a T-cell obtainable or obtained by a method according to the invention.

Formulation of medicaments, ways of administration and the use of

pharmaceutically acceptable excipients are known and customary in the art and for instance described in Remington; The Science and Practice of Pharmacy, 21^st Edition 2005, University of Sciences in Philadelphia. Pharmaceutical compositions and medicaments according to the invention are preferably formulated to be suitable for intravenous or subcutaneous, or intramuscular administration, although other administration routes can be envisaged, such as mucosal administration or intradermal and/or intracutaneous administration, e.g. by injection. Intradermal administration is preferred herein. Advantages and/or preferred embodiments that are specifically associated with intradermal administration are later on defined in a separate section entitled "intradermal administration".

It is furthermore encompassed by the present invention that the administration of a peptide, a polynucleotide, a composition and/or a cell according to the invention and/or a cell obtainable or obtained by a method according to the invention with an appropriate pharmaceutical excipient such as an adjuvant and/or a carrier may be carried out as a single administration. Alternatively, the administration may be repeated if needed and/or distinct peptides, polynucleotides, compositions and/or cells according to the invention and/or cells obtainable or obtained by a method according to the invention with appropriate pharmaceutical excipients such as adjuvants and/or carriers, may be sequentially administered.

The peptide, polynucleotide, composition and/or cell according to the invention and/or cell obtainable or obtained by a method according to the invention (also referred to as medicaments according to the invention) may preferably comprise at least one immune response stimulating compound or adjuvant. Advantageously the medicaments according to the invention may additionally comprise one or more synthetic adjuvants. Such adjuvant may be admixed to the medicament according to the invention or may be administered separately to the subject, mammal or human, to be treated. Particularly preferred are those adjuvants that are known to act via the Toll-like receptors and/or via a RIG-I (Retinoic acid- Inducible Gene-1) protein and/or via an endothelin receptor. Immune modifying compounds that are capable of activation of the innate immune system can be activated particularly well via Toll like receptors (TLR' s), including TLR' s 1 - 10. Compounds capable of activating TLR receptors and modifications and derivatives thereof are well documented in the art. TLR1 may be activated by bacterial lipoproteins and acetylated forms thereof, TLR2 may in addition be activated by Gram positive bacterial glycolipids, LPS, LP A, LTA, fimbriae, outer membrane proteins, heat shock proteins from bacteria or from the host, and Mycobacterial lipoarabinomannans. TLR3 may be activated by dsRNA, in particular of viral origin, or by the chemical compound poly(LC). TLR4 may be activated by Gram negative LPS, LTA, Heat shock proteins from the host or from bacterial origin, viral coat or envelope proteins, taxol or derivatives thereof, hyaluronan containing oligosaccharides and fibronectins. TLR5 may be activated with bacterial flagellae or flagellin. TLR6 may be activated by mycobacterial lipoproteins and group B Streptococcus heat labile soluble factor (GBS- F) or Staphylococcus modulins. TLR7 may be activated by imidazoquinolines. TLR9 may be activated by unmethylated CpG DNA or chromatin - IgG complexes. In particular TLR3, TLR7 and TLR9 play an important role in mediating an innate immune response against viral infections, and compounds capable of activating these receptors are particularly preferred for use in the methods of treatment and in the compositions or medicaments according to the invention. Particularly preferred adjuvants comprise, but are not limited to, synthetically produced compounds comprising dsRNA, poly(LC), unmethylated CpG DNA which trigger TLR3 and TLR9 receptors, IC31, a TLR 9 agonist, EVISAVAC, a TLR 4 agonist, Montanide ISA-51, Montanide ISA 720 (an adjuvant produced by Seppic 7, France). RIG-I protein is known to be activated by ds-RNA just like TLR3 (Immunity, (2005), 1 : 19-28). In another preferred embodiment, the synthetic adjuvant compounds are physically linked to the peptides of the invention. Physical linkage of adjuvants and costimulatory compounds or functional groups to the HLA class I and HLA class II epitope comprising peptides provides an enhanced immune response by simultaneous stimulation of antigen presenting cells, in particular dendritic cells, that internalize, metabolize and display antigen. Another preferred immune modifying compound is an inhibitor of an endothelin receptor such as BQ-788 (Buckanovich RJ et al. Nature Medicine (2008), 14:28-36, Ishikawa K, PNAS (1994) 91 :4892). BQ-788 is N-cis-2,6- dimethylpiperidinocarbonyl-L-gamma-methylleucyl-D - 1 - methoxycarbonyltryptophanyl-D-norleucine. However any derivative of BQ-788 or modified BQ-788 compound is also encompassed within the scope of this invention. Another preferred immune response stimulating compound or adjuvant is Interferon alpha (IFNa), more preferably pegylated Interferon alpha, which may be admixed to the medicament according to the invention, or may be administered separately to the subject. Furthermore, the use of antigen presenting cell (co)stimulatory molecules, as set out in WO99/61065 and in WO03/084999, in combination with the peptides and compositions of the invention is preferred. In particular the use of 4-1 -BB and/or CD40 ligands, agonistic antibodies, OX40 ligands or functional fragments and derivates thereof, as well as synthetic compounds with similar agonistic activity are preferably administered separately or combined with the peptides of the invention to subjects to be treated in order to further stimulate the mounting of an optimal immune response in the subject.

In addition, a preferred embodiment comprises delivery of the medicaments according to the invention, with or without additional immune stimulants such as TLR ligands and/or anti CD40/anti-4-l BB antibodies in a slow release vehicle such as mineral oil (e.g. Montanide ISA 51) or PLGA. Alternatively, the medicament according to the invention may be delivered by intradermally, e.g. by injection, with or without immune stimulants (adjuvants). Preferably, for intradermal delivery the medicaments according to the invention are administered in a composition consisting of the medicaments and one or more immunologically inert pharmaceutically acceptable carriers, e.g. buffered aqueous solutions at physiological ionic strength and/or osmolarity (such as e.g. PBS).

In a preferred embodiment, a medicament according to the invention as defined herein is formulated to be suitable for intradermal administration or application.

Intradermal is known to the skilled person. In the context of the invention, intradermal is synonymous with intracutaneous and is distinct from subcutaneous. A most superficial application of a substance is epicutaenous (on the skin), then would come an intradermal application (in or into the skin), then a subcutaneous application (in the tissues just under the skin), then an intramuscular application (into the body of the muscle). An intradermal application is usually given by injection. An intradermal injection of a substance is usually done to test a possible reaction, allergy and/or cellular immunity to it. A subcutaneous application is usually also given by injection: a needle is injected in the tissues under the skin.

The advantage of intradermal administration is that the formulation procedure can be simplified and be made more robust. Furthermore, intradermal vaccine delivery has been repeatedly shown to allow significant dose sparing when compared to

conventional administration methods such as intramuscular and subcutaneous administration. This effect is attributed to the relatively dense network of immune cells present in the skin. This was also shown with the HP VI 6 synthetic long peptides in a human study published by Van der Burg et al. In this study it was shown that intradermal injection of pools of HPV16 synthetic long peptides is safe and results in the migration of HPV16-specific T cells into the skin as well as in an increase in the number of circulating HPV16-specific T cells.

In an embodiment, a medicament according to the invention does not comprise any adjuvant such as Montanide ISA-51, and specifically Montanide ISA-51. This means that the formulation of the medicament is more simple: an oil-water based emulsion is preferably also not present in a medicament according to the invention. Accordingly, a medicament according to the invention preferably does not comprise an adjuvant such as Montanide ISA-51 and specifically Montanide ISA-51 and/or does not comprise an oil-in-water based emulsion; more preferably a medicament according to the invention comprises neither of these to adjuvant and even more preferably comprises no adjuvant at all. Therefore, in an embodiment, the medicament according to the invention is a, preferably buffered, aqueous solution, preferably at physiological ionic strength and/or osmolality, such as e.g. PBS (Phosphate Buffer Saline) or water for injection (WFI), comprising or consisting of one or more medicaments as defined earlier herein. The skilled person knows how to prepare such a solution.

A medicament according to the invention has another advantage, which is that by intradermally administering low amounts of a medicament, preferably a peptide as earlier herein defined, an immunogenic effect may still be achieved. The amount of each peptide used is preferably ranged from 1 and 1000 μg, more preferably from 5 and 500 μg, even more preferably from 10 and 100 μg.

In an embodiment, the medicament according to the invention comprises a peptide as earlier defined herein and at least one adjuvant, said adjuvant being not formulated in an oil-in water based emulsion and/or not being of an oil-in-water emulsion type as earlier defined herein. This type of medicament according to the invention may be administered as a single administration. Alternatively, the

administration of a peptide as earlier herein defined and/or an adjuvant may be repeated if needed and/or distinct peptides and/or distinct adjuvants may be sequentially administered. It is further encompassed by the present invention that a peptide according to the invention is administered intradermally whereas an adjuvant as defined herein is sequentially administered. The adjuvant may be intradermally administered. However any other way of administration may be used for the adjuvant. The intradermal administration of a peptide is very attractive since the injection of the vaccine is realized at or as close by as possible to the site of the disease resulting in the local activation of the disease draining lymph node, resulting in a stronger local activation of the immune system. A preferred immune response stimulating compound or adjuvant for intradermal administration is Interferon alpha (IFNa), more preferably pegylated Interferon alpha, which may be admixed to the medicament according to the invention, or may be administered separately to the subject. When administered separately the Interferon alpha is preferably also administered intradermally and is preferably administered within 10 cm proximity to the site where the medicament according to the invention is administered.

Another crucial advantage of the medicaments according to the invention is that relatively low amounts of peptides may be used, in one single shot, in a simple formulation and without any adjuvant known to give undesired side-effects as

Montanide IS A- 51. The medicament for intradermal administration has already been defined herein. A medicament according to the invention used for subcutaneous adminstration is the same as the one used for intradermal administration and has already been defined herein. The skilled person knows how to formulate a medicament suited for

subcutaneous administration.

Preferably, a medicament according to the invention for subcutaneous adminstration comprises a peptide as already herein defined in combination with an adjuvant. Preferred adjuvants have already been mentioned herein. Other preferred adjuvants are of the type of an oil-in water emulsions such as incomplete Freund's adjuvant or IF A, Montanide ISA-51 or Montanide ISA 720 (Seppic France). In a further preferred embodiment, a medicament according to the invention suited for subcutaneous administration comprises one or more peptides according to the invention, an adjuvant as earlier defined herein and an inert pharmaceutically acceptable carrier and/or excipients all as earlier defined herein. Formulation of medicaments, and the use of pharmaceutically acceptable excipients are known and customary in the art and for instance described in Remington; The Science and Practice of Pharmacy, 21^st Edition 2005, University of Sciences in Philadelphia. A preferred immune response stimulating compound or adjuvant for subcutaneous administration is Interferon alpha (IFNa), more preferably pegylated Interferon alpha, which may be admixed to the medicament according to the invention, or may be administered separately to the subject. When administered separately, the Interferon alpha is preferably also administered subcutaneously and is preferably administered within 10 cm proximity to the site where the medicament according to the invention is administered.

In an embodiment, the medicament according to the invention suited for intradermal administration may be simultaneously administered with a medicament according to the invention suited for subcutaneous administration. Alternatively, both medicaments may be sequentially intradermally and subsequently subcutaneously administered or vice versa (first subcutaneous administration followed by intradermal administration). In this embodiment as in the earlier described embodiment dedicated to the intradermal administration, the intradermal and/or subcutaneous administration of a medicament according to the invention, preferably a peptide according to the invention, and/or of an adjuvant may be repeated if needed and/or of distinct medicament, preferably peptides and/or of distinct adjuvants may be sequentially intradermally and/or subcutaneously administered. It is further encompassed by the present invention that a medicament according to the invention, preferably a peptide is administered intradermally and/or subcutaneously whereas an adjuvant as defined herein is sequentially administered. The adjuvant may be intradermally and/or subcutaneously administered. However any other way of administration may be used for the adjuvant.

We expect the combination of an intradermal and a subcutaneous administration of a medicament according to the invention is advantageous. DC in the epidermis are clearly different from DC in the dermis and in the subcutis. The intracutaneous

(intradermal) immunization will cause antigen processing and activation of epidermal DC (Langerin-positive langerhans cells) that through their dendritic network are in close contact with the keratinocytes. This will also optimally activate inflammatory pathways in the interactions between Langerhans cell and keratinocytes, followed by trafficking of antigen loaded and activated Langerhans cell to the skin-draining lymph nodes. The subcutaneous administration will activate other DC subsets, that will also become loaded with antigen and travel independently to the skin- draining lymph nodes. Conceivably, the use of a medicament which may be administered both intradermally and subcutaneously may lead to a synergistic stimulation of T-cells in these draining nodes by the different DC subsets.

A medicament according to the present invention and the methods of treatment described herein using a medicament according to the invention may advantageously be combined with other medicaments and methods of treatment. As such, a medicament according to the invention or a method of treatment according to the invention may be combined with e.g. chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and/or antibody therapy against a PSMA related disease or condition or may be combined with e.g. immunotherapy, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and/or antibody therapy against another than PSMA related disease or condition, or may be combined with immunotherapy against another antigen than PSMA to treat a PSMA related disease or condition.

In this document and in its claims, the verb "to comprise" and its conjugations is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. In addition, reference to an element by the indefinite article "a" or "an" does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be one and only one of the elements. The indefinite article "a" or "an" thus usually means "at least one". The word "about" or "approximately" when used in association with a numerical value (e.g. about 10) preferably means that the value may be the given value (of 10) more or less 0.1% of the value.

The sequence information as provided herein should not be so narrowly construed as to require inclusion of erroneously identified bases. The skilled person is capable of identifying such erroneously identified bases and knows how to correct for such errors. In case of sequence errors, the sequence of the PSMA polypeptide obtainable by expression of the gene present in SEQ ID NO: 2 containing the nucleic acid sequence coding for the polypeptide should prevail.

All patent and literature references cited in the present specification are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

SEQUENCES

Table 1. Sequences as set forth in the Sequence Listing

SEQ SEQ Gene Sequence

ID type product

NO:

1 Protein Human

MWNLLHETD S A VATARRPRWLC AGALVLAGGFFLL PSMA

GFLFGWFIKSSNEATNITPKHNMKAFLDELKAENIKK

FLYNFTQIPHLAGTEQNFQLAKQIQSQWKEFGLDSVE

LAHYDVLLSYPNKTHPNYISIINEDGNEIFNTSLFEPPP

PGYENVSDIVPPFSAFSPQGMPEGDLVYVNYAPvTEDF

FKLERDMKINCSGKIVIARYGKVFRGNKVKNAQLAG

AKGVILYSDPADYFAPGVKSYPDGWNLPGGGVQRG

NILNLNGAGDPLTPGYPANEYAYRRGIAEAVGLPSIP

VHPIGYYDAQKLLEKMGGSAPPDSSWRGSLKVPYNV

GPGFTGNFSTQKVKMHIHSTNEVTPJYNVIGTLRGAV

EPDRYVILGGHRDSWVFGGIDPQSGAAVVHEIVRSFG

TLKKEGWRPRRΉLFASWDAEEFGLLGSTEWAEENSR

LLQERGVAYINADSSIEGNYTLRVDCTPLMYSLVHNL

TKELKSPDEGFEGKSLYESWTKKSPSPEFSGMPRISKL

GSGNDFEVFFQRLGIASGRARYTKNWETNKFSGYPL

YHSVYETYELVEKFYDPMFKYHLTVAQVRGGMVFE

LANSIVLPFDCRDYAVVLRKYADKIYSISMKHPQEMK

TYS VSFD SLF S A VKNFTEIASKF SERLQDFDKSNPIVL

RMMNDQLMFLERAFIDPLGLPDRPFYRHVIYAPSSHN

KYAGESFPGIYDALFDIESKVDPSKAWGEVKRQIYVA

AFTVQAAAETLSEVA

2 CDS Human See sequence listing

PSMA

3 Genomic Human See sequence listing

PSMA

4 Peptide SLP1 NLLHETD S A VATARRPRWLCAGALVLAGGFFLL

5 Peptide SLP2 GFFLLGFLFGWFIKS SNEATNITPKHNMKAFLDEL 6 Peptide SLP3 TPKHNMKAFLDELKAENIKKFLYNFTQIPHLAGTEQ

7 Peptide SLP4 KQIQSQWKEFGLDSVELAHYDVLLSYPNKTHPNYISI

8 Peptide SLP5 DIVPPFSAFSPQGMPEGDLVYVNYARTEDFFKL

9 Peptide SLP6 KVFRGNKVKNAQLAGAKGVILYSDPADYFAPGVKSY

10 Peptide SLP7 VQRGNILNLNGAGDPLTPGYPANEYAYRPvGIAEAVG

L

11 Peptide SLP8 AQKLLEKMGGSAPPDSSWRGSLKVPYNVGPGF

12 Peptide SLP9 KVKMHIHSTNEVTPJYNVIGTLRGAVEPDRY

13 Peptide SLP10 AVVHEIVRSFGTLKKEGWRPRRTILFASWDAEEF

14 Peptide SLP11 TEWAEENSRLLQERGVAYINADSSIEGNYTLRV

15 Peptide SLP12 NADSSIEGNYTLRVDCTPLMYSLVHNLTKELKSPD

16 Peptide SLP13 LMYSLVHNLTKELKSPDEGFEGKSLYESWTKK

17 Peptide SLP14 SGMPRISKLGSGNDFEVFFQRLGIASGRARYTK

18 Peptide SLP15 SGYPLYHSVYETYELVEKFYDPMFKYHLTVAQV

19 Peptide SLP16 FYDPMFKYHLTVAQVRGGMVFELANSIVLPFDCRDY

20 Peptide SLP17 VLRKYADKIYSISMKHPQEMKTYSVSFDSLFSAV

21 Peptide SLP18 ERLQDFDKSNPIVLRMMNDQLMFLERAFIDPLGL

22 Peptide SLP19 LGLPDRPFYRHVIYAPSSHNKYAGESFPGIYDALF

23 Peptide SLP20 ESKVDPSKAWGEVKRQIYVAAFTVQAAAETLSEV

The present invention is further described by the following examples which should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention.

Unless stated otherwise, the practice of the invention will employ standard

conventional methods of molecular biology, virology, microbiology or biochemistry. Such techniques are described in Sambrook et al. (1989) Molecular Cloning, A

Laboratory Manual (2^nd edition), Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; in Sambrook and Russell (2001) Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, Third Edition, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, NY; in Volumes 1 and 2 of Au sub el et al. (1994) Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, Current Protocols, USA; and in Volumes I and II of Brown (1998) Molecular Biology LabFax, Second Edition, Academic Press (UK); Oligonucleotide Synthesis (N. Gait editor); Nucleic Acid Hybridization (Hames and Higgins, eds.). EXAMPLES

Provision of peptides according to the invention

A high quality CD8⁺ T cell epitope is defined as a peptide that possesses both a predicted high affinity for the HLA class I molecule to which it binds and is also predicted to be generated at its C-terminus by a proteolytic cleavage of the proteasome. To obtain peptides according to the present invention, these two characteristics were first separately assessed by using a freely accessible HLA class I peptide binding algorithm and an algorithm predicting the cleavages of the proteasome. Subsequently, we devised a single quantitative measure, the so-called binding-cleavage- immunogenicity (BCI-) score, that for each peptide incorporates both its predicted binding affinity for the HLA class I molecule to which it binds and the likelihood that the peptide is generated in the cells. The BCI-score is calculated from (1) the binding score (B-score), which is derived from the results of the in silico prediction of HLA class I peptide binding using the aforementioned algorithm, and (2) the cleavage score (C-score), which is derived from the results of the in silico prediction of the proteasome-mediated C-terminal generation of the peptide by the proteasome using the aforementioned algorithm. A high B-score (maximal value is 100; arbitrary units) reflects a high propensity for high affinity binding and a high C-score (maximal value is 2; arbitrary units) reflects a high propensity for C-terminal generation by the proteasome. The multiplication of the B- and C-score produces the BCI-score, with a maximal value of 200 (arbitrary units), and allows for the easy judgment by a quantitative measure of the quality of each individual predicted CD8⁺ T cell epitope. Moreover, by quantifying the quality of CD8⁺ T cell epitopes, the cumulative quality of the CD8⁺ T cell epitopes that are contained in peptides according to the invention can be calculated, which allows the selection of peptides with the highest cumulative CD8⁺ T cell-inducing immunogenicity (highest cumulative BCI-score), underlying the priority ranking of peptides according to the invention. Peptides according to the present invention have been identified on the basis of our extensive analysis of the immunogenicity of all possible regions of a length of 31 - 37 contiguous amino acids of PSMA, with respect to the HLA class I-presented CD8⁺ T cell epitopes and the HLA class Il-presented CD4⁺ T cell epitopes that are contained in these regions. First, by using a freely accessible HLA class I peptide binding prediction algorithm ('MHC I Binding predictions' at the Immune Epitope Database (IEDB) analysis resource; see ref. Lundegaard et al. 2010) in conjunction with the usage of freely accessible algorithms predicting the proteasome-mediated proteolysis of a protein ('NetChop 3. of the Center for Biological Sequence Analysis at Technical University of Denmark; see ref. Nielsen et al. 2005) , the most optimal CD8⁺ T cell epitopes in the full length PSMA sequence, binding to 55 prevalent HLA class I molecules (HLA-A0101 ; HLA-A0201 ; HLA-A0202; HLA-A0203; HLA-A0206; HLA-A0211 ; HLA-A0212; HLA-A0216; HLA-A0219; HLA-A0250; HLA-A0301 ; HLA-A1101 ; HLA-A2301 ; HLA-A2402; HLA-A2403; HLA-A2501 ; HLA-A2601 ; HLA-A2602; HLA-A2603; HLA-A2902; HLA-A3001; HLA-A3002; HLA-A3101 ; HLA-A3201 ; HLA-A3301 ; HLA-A6801 ; HLA-A6802; HLA-A6901 ; HLA-A8001 ; HLA-B0702; HLA-B0801 ; HLA-B0802; HLA-B0803; HLA-B1501 ; HLA-B1502; HLA-B1503; HLA-B1509; HLA-B1517; HLA-B1801; HLA-B2705; HLA-B3501 ; HLA-B3801 ; HLA-B3901 ; HLA-B4001 ; HLA-B4002; HLA-B4402; HLA-B4403; HLA-B4501 ; HLA-B4601 ; HLA-B4801 ; HLA-B5101; HLA-B5301 ; HLA-B5401 ; HLA-B5701 ; and HLA-B5801)

were identified with respect to both their C-terminal generation by the proteasome and as well as their binding affinity for the HLA class I molecule to which the epitopes bind. A calculation formula (see here above) was developed that incorporates both the predicted HLA class I binding affinity and the predicted C-terminal generation by the proteasome. This calculation formula yielded the aforementioned binding-cleavage- immunogenicity (BCI) score, which enabled the ranking of the CD8⁺ T cell epitopes according to their likelihood to be an abundant and stably bound naturally processed and presented epitope, which is a requirement for a peptide to be immunogenic, i.e. to have the capacity to efficiently raise a CD8⁺ T cell response (see Table 2).

Second, in a next step of our selection procedure using two freely accessible HLA class II peptide binding prediction algorithms ('MHC II Binding predictions' at the Immune Epitope Database (IEDB) analysis resource; see ref. Wang et al. 2008 and the 'NetMHCIIpan 2.0' algorithm at the Center for Biological Sequence Analysis,

Technical University of Denmark; see ref. Nielsen et al. 2010) we identified the most likely peptides of PSMA binding with high affinity to HLA-DRBl 0101; HLA-DRBl 0102; HLA-DRBl 0103; HLA-DRBl 0104; HLA-DRBl 0105; HLA-DRBl 0106; HLA-DRB1 0107; HLA-DRB1 0301; HLA-DRB1 0401; HLA-DRB1 0701; HLA- DRB1 1101; HLA-DRB1 1301; and HLA-DRB 1 1501 (see Table 3). These HL A class II molecules are prevalently expressed among the population.

Third, in the final step of our selection procedure, the peptides of the invention were selected by identifying the regions within the PSMA protein sequence that incorporate both a large number of high-quality CD8⁺ T cell epitopes (i.e. the best scoring using our BCI-score) and also as many as possible HLA class II binding CD4⁺ T-helper cell epitopes. This selection procedure yielded a set of peptides according to the invention (see SEQ ID NO: 4-23 in Table 1) with superior T cell-inducing capacity (i.e. immunogenicity) as compared to a randomly chosen set of peptides of the same length within the PSMA protein. The underlying reason for this is that the CD8⁺ T cell epitopes and CD4⁺ T helper cell epitopes are not evenly distributed within the PSMA protein sequence, but are clustered in multiple hotspots. Therefore, our selection procedure, including the development of the BCI-score as a quantitative measure, was needed to reliably identify the most immunogenic regions in the PSMA protein. Apart from the immunogenicity of these selected peptides being optimal, also the population coverage with respect to all possible HLA haplotypes within the population is optimal. Moreover, using the BCI-score peptides according to the invention could be ranked based on the quantity and quality of the CD8⁺ cytotoxic T cell epitopes contained in these peptides.

Table 2. Predicted HLA class I-restricted CD8⁺ T cell epitopes contained in SLP sequences (human PSMA)

"Start" and "End" are relative to the amino acid sequence of human PSMA as depicted in SEQ ID NO: 1

^A Peptide amino acid sequence. Each predicted HLA class I binding peptide of PSMA is listed separately for each HLA class I molecule to which it is predicted to bind, and can be listed multiple times for that reason.

^B B-score. Peptide binding to 55 HLA class I molecules (see text) of PSMA-derived peptides was assessed in silico with the algorithm 'MHC I Binding predictions' at the Immune Epitope Database (IEDB) analysis resource (Lundegaard et al. 2010), using the 'consensus' prediction method setting as selection criterion. The upper 1.5^th percentile of the predicted binding peptides to each HLA class I molecule was selected. The "Binding- score (B-score)" is derived from the ranking of the predicted binding affinity of the peptides. Briefly, the ranking was first reversed and

subsequently normalized to 100, so that the peptide predicted to bind best has a score of 100. Example: five peptides were selected (5 within the

1.5 percentile). Peptides were first assigned the 'reverse ranking score' 5 to 1 (5 for the best binding peptide). Subsequently, each reverse ranking score is normalized to the number of peptides within the upper 1.5^th percentile, so that the best hinder scores 100. To that end, the ranking score for each peptide is multiplied with 100/5 (=20), The best binder then obtains as B-score: 5 x 20 = 100, the second best binder has a B-score of 4 x 20 = 80, etc. In general, the ranking score is multiplied with 100/n (n= number of peptide within the l,5^,k percentile). As a consequence, the best predicted binder (to a certain HLA class I molecule) alwa s score 100, irrespective of the precise number of peptides within the l,5^m percentile that are selected

c C-score. C-terminal generation by the proteasome of the upper 1.5^th percentile of predicted high affinity binding peptides of PSMA (for each HLA class I molecule) was assessed with the 'NetChop 3. 1 ' algorithm of the Center for Biological Sequence Analysis at Technical University of Denmark (Nielsen et al. 2005), using the '20S 3.0' and 'C-term 3.0' methods. Both methods predict the likelihood of a proteasomal cleavage after a certain amino acid position in PSMA and can score between 0 and 1, where a higher value represents a higher likelihood of cleavage after the amino acid. The value 0.5 may be used as an arbitrary threshold value: > 0.5 the cleavage is likely to occur, and < 0.5 the cleavage is likely to not occur. Accordingly, a value close to 1 indicates a high likelihood of cleavage after the specific residue. Because great differences between the predictions by both methods occur, we developed the Cleavage score (C-score) that tares into account the prediction results of both methods. The C-score is the summation of the separate scores by both methods. Therefore, the C-score far each position in PSMA is maximally (close to) 2, and minimally (close to) 0, where close to 2 reflects a very high likelihood by BOTH methods that the cleavage after the residue will be produced by the proteasome, and a C-score close to 1 is considered as an indifferent tendency for cleavage by the proteasome (as predicted on average by both network methods).

^D BCI-score. To incorporate in one quantitative measure both the B-score and the C-score, which are the measures indicative for the likelihood that a peptide will bind with high affinity and will be C-teiminally produced, the Binding-Cleavage-Iniinunogenicity (BCI-)score was developed. The BCI-score is the B-score multiplied by the C-score. As such the BCI-score can attain a maximal value of 200 (100 2) (arbitrary units).

^E Cumulative BCI-scote. The cumulative BCI-score for each peptide accorcing to the invention was used as (one of two) selection criterion. The BCI-seore is a quantitative reflection of both the total number of predicted CD8⁺ T cell epitopes that are contained in a peptide according to the invention and their predicted quality, and is as such indicative for the CD8^h Ί cell-inducing power of each peptide according to the invention (its immunogenicity). A high cumulative BCI-score indicates a high CD8⁺ T call immunogetiicity. Of note, because each peptide of the invention (SEQ ID NO's: 4 - 23) contains atleist 25 CD8⁺ T cell epitopes, the distribution cf the prevalence of the HLA class I molecules to which the peptides bind is comparable for each of the SEQ ID NO ' s : 4 - 23.

Table 3 : Predicted HLA class Il-restricted CD4⁺ T helper epitopes contained in SLP sequences (human PSMA)

^A Peptide amino acid sequence. Each predicted HLA-DRBl binding peptide of PSMA is listed separately for each HLA class II molecule to which i is predicted to bind, and can be listed multiple times for that reason.

^B B-score. Peptide binding to 13 prevalent HLA class II molecules of PSMA-derived peptides was assessed in silico with the algorithm 'MHC II Binding predictions' at the Immune Epitope Database (IEDB) analysis resource (Wang et al., 2008) and with the 'NetMHCIIpan 2.0' algorithm at the Center for Biological Sequence Analysis, Technical University of Denmark (Nielsen et al., 2010). The 'Binding-score' (B-score) is derived fro the ranking of the predicted binding affinity of the peptides. Briefly, the ranking was first reversed and subsequently normalized to 100, so that the peptide predicted to bind best has a score of 100. To reduce the number of peptides in the list, all length variants of peptides predicted to bind to a particular HLA class II molecule with a lower predicted binding (lower B-score) are discarded in the list.

REFERENCE LIST

1. Toes et al., 1996, Proc.Natl.Acad.Sci.U.S.A 93 : 7855

2. Toes et al., 1996, J. Immunol. 156: 3911

3. Zwaveling et al., 2002, J. Immunol. 169: 350

4. Lanzavecchia, 1998, Nature 393 : 413

5. van den Burg et al., 1995, Hum Immunol. 44: 189

6. Kessler et al., 2003, Hum Immunol. 64: 245

7. Remington; The Science and Practice of Pharmacy, 21^st Edition 2005, University of Sciences in Philadelphia

8. Buckanovich RJ et al., 2008, Nature Medicine 14: 28

9. Ishikawa K, 1994, PNAS 91 : 4892

10. Yong Li, et al., 2010, Med. Res. Rev. 30(1): 67

11. Fishman, 2009, Expert Opin. Biol. Ther. 9(12): 1565

12. Bouchelouche and Capala, 2010, Curr Opin Oncol. 22(3): 274

13. Van der Burg et al., 2007, PNAS 104: 12087.

14. Lundegaard C, et al., 2010, Immunology 130: 309.

15. Nielsen M, et al, 2005, Immunogenetics 57: 33.

16. Wang P, et al., 2008, PLoS Comput Biol 4: el000048.

17. Nielsen M, et al., 2010, Immunome Res 6: 9.

18. Atherton, E. and Sheppard, R., 1989, Solid Phase Peptide Synthesis: A Practical Approach. IRL Press, Oxford.

19. Barany, G. and Merrifield, R., 1979, Solid-phase peptide synthesis. In The Peptides, Vol. 2 (E. Gross and J. Meienhofer, eds.) pp. 1-284. Academic Press, New York.

20. Fields, G.B., 1997, Solid-phase peptide synthesis. Methods Enzymol. Vol. 289. 21. Fortmuller et al., 201 1, Prostate 71(6): 588

22. Rock et al., 2004, Nat. Immunol. 5:670

Claims

1. A peptide comprising at least 17 contiguous amino acids and at most 100 amino acids from the amino acid sequence of a prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), wherein the contiguous amino acid sequence comprises a T-cell epitope from said PSMA.

2. A peptide according to claim 1, wherein the length of the peptide is 17-45 amino acids, preferably 19-43 amino acids, more preferably 22-40 amino acids and even more preferably 31-37 amino acids.

3. A peptide according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the T-cell epitope is selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 24-998.

4. A peptide according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the peptide comprises at least two T-cell epitopes from said PMSA, preferably at least two T-cell epitopes selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 24-998.

5. A peptide according to claim 4, wherein the peptide comprises at least one HLA class I-restricted CD8⁺ T-cell epitope and at least one HLA class Il-restricted CD4⁺ T- helper epitope, preferably at least one HLA class I-restricted CD8⁺ T-cell epitope selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 24-804 and at least one HLA class Il-restricted CD4⁺ T-helper epitope selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 805-998.

6. A peptide according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein said peptide is selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 4-23.

7. A peptide according to any one of claims 1 to 6 comprising at least 17 contiguous amino acids and at most 39 amino acids from the amino acid sequence of a prostate- specific membrane antigen (PSMA).

8. A peptide according to any one of claims 1 to 7, comprising a modified amino acid and/or a functional group such as a fluorinated group, a human toll-like receptor ligand and/or agonist, an oligonucleotide conjugate, PSA, a sugar chain or glycan, a pam3cys and/or derivative thereof, preferably a pam3cys lipopeptide or variant or derivative thereof, CpG, a DC pulse cassette, a tetanus toxin derived peptide; either within the peptide or appended to the peptide

9. A polynucleotide encoding a peptide according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

10. A cell comprising the polynucleotide according to claim 9.

11. A method for the preparation of a PSMA specific T-cell, said method comprising contacting a T-cell with an antigen presenting cell expressing a polynucleotide according to claim 7 and/or contacting a T-cell with an antigen presenting cell loaded with a peptide according to any one of claims 1-6; and, optionally, culturing said T- cell; preferably said T-cell is a CD8 cytotoxic T-cell or a CD4⁺ T-helper cell.

12. A T-cell obtainable by the method according to claim 11.

13. A composition comprising a peptide according to any one of claims 1 to 8, and/or a polynucleotide according to claim 9 and/or a cell according to claim 10 or 12 and/or a cell obtained by the method according to claim 11 and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.

14. A composition according to claim 13, further comprising at least one adjuvant.

15. A peptide according to any one of claims 1 to 8 and/or a composition according to claim 13 or 14 and/or a polynucleotide according to claim 9 and/or a cell according to claim 10 or 12 and/or a cell obtained by the method according to claim 11 for use as a medicament.

16. A method for the prevention, treatment and/or delay of a PSMA related disease or condition comprising administering to a subject an effective amount of a peptide according to any one of claims 1 to 8 and/or a composition according to claim 13 or 14 and/or a polynucleotide according to claim 9 and/or a cell according to claim 10 or 12 and/or a cell obtained by the method according to claim 11.

17. A peptide according to any one of claims 1 to 8 and/or a composition according to claim 13 or 14 and/or a polynucleotide according to claim 9 and/or a cell according to claim 10 or 12 and/or a cell obtained by the method according to claim 11 for the treatment, prevention and/or delay of a PSMA related disease or condition.

18. Use of a peptide according to any one of claims 1 to 8 and/or a composition according to claim 13 or 14 and/or a polynucleotide according to claim 9 and/or a cell according to claim 10 or 12 and/or a cell obtained by the method according to claim 11 for the manufacturing of a medicament for the treatment, prevention and/or delay of a PSMA related disease or condition.