Erschienen in:
01.12.2011 | Translational Research and Biomarkers
Suppression of T-Cell Expansion by Melanoma is Exerted on Resting Cells
verfasst von:
Andrew J. Russ, MD, Lucy Wentworth, BS, Kyle Xu, MD, Alexander Rakhmilevich, PhD, Christine M. Seroogy, MD, Paul M. Sondel, MD, PhD, M. Suresh, DVM, PhD, Clifford S. Cho, MD
Erschienen in:
Annals of Surgical Oncology
|
Ausgabe 13/2011
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Abstract
Background
Immunotherapeutic cancer protocols often rely on the ability to promote proliferative expansion of tumor-specific T-cell, but the influence of cancer on in vivo T-cell expansion remains largely undefined.
Methods
The ability of control and B16F10 melanoma-bearing C57BL/6 mice to expand lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus antigen-specific T-cell populations in response to acute viral infection was compared by using flow cytometric assays of splenocytes.
Results
The ability to expand virus-specific CD8+ and CD4+ T-cells was globally and markedly suppressed in tumor-bearing mice. Expanded cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) retained in vivo and in vitro functionality, suggesting that melanoma growth did not induce T-cell anergy. The magnitude of suppressed proliferative expansion was proportional to the extent of tumor burden. Melanoma-induced suppression of CTL expansion was correlated with upregulated apoptotic activity and hampered the induction of memory precursor effector cells. Adoptive transfer of resting LCMV antigen-specific T-cells before or after tumor establishment demonstrated that a critical period of in vivo exposure of resting T-cells to growing melanoma was responsible for the induction of suppressed expansion. This suppression was durable; surgical resection of melanoma after in vivo exposure to resting T-cells but before antigenic stimulation did not restore full expansion.
Conclusions
These data suggest that growing melanoma tumors exert a global, antigen-independent influence on resting T-cells that fundamentally reprograms their ability to undergo proliferative expansion in response to subsequent antigenic stimulation. This finding may have direct implications for T-cell-based immunotherapeutic strategies.