A CTLA-4 blocking strategy based on Nanobody in dendritic cell-stimulated cytokine-induced killer cells enhances their anti-tumor effects

Background Cytokine-induced killer cells induced with tumor antigen-pulsed dendritic cells (DC-CIK) immunotherapy is a promising strategy for the treatment of malignant tumors. However, it sefficacy is restricted by the immunosuppression, which is mediated by the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen-4 (CTLA-4) pathway. In order to overcome the negative co-stimulation from these T cells, we screened a nanobody targeted for CTLA-4 (Nb36) and blocked the CTLA-4 signaling with Nb36. Methods Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were collected from healthy donors to beused to induce CIK cells in vitro, after which they were co-cultured with DC cells that had received tumor antigens. In addition, we tested whether blocking CTLA-4 signaling with Nb36 could promote in vitro DC-CIK cells proliferation, pro-inflammatory cytokine production and cytotoxicity, or not. For the in vivo experiments, we constructed a subcutaneously transplanted tumor model and placed it in NOD/SCID mice to verify the anti-tumor effect of this therapy. Results After stimulation with Nb36, the DC-CIK cells presented enhanced proliferation and production of IFN-γ in vitro, which strengthened the killing effect on the tumor cells. For the in vivo experiments, it was found that Nb36-treated DC-CIK cells significantly inhibited the growth of subcutaneously transplanted livercancer tumors, as well as reduced the tumor weight and prolonged the survival of tumor-bearing NOD/SCID mice. Conclusions Our findings demonstrated that in response to CTLA-4 specific nanobody stimulation, DC-CIK cells exhibited a better anti-tumor effect. In fact, this Nb-based CTLA-4 blocking strategy achieved an anti-tumor efficacy close to that of monoclonal antibodies. Our findings suggest that DC-CIK cells + Nb36 have the potential to treat malignant tumors through in vivo adoptive therapy..

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2021

Erschienen:

2021

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:21

Enthalten in:

BMC cancer - 21(2021), 1 vom: 15. Sept.

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Wang, Wu [VerfasserIn]
Wang, Xi [VerfasserIn]
Yang, Wenli [VerfasserIn]
Zhong, Kai [VerfasserIn]
He, Na [VerfasserIn]
Li, Xuexia [VerfasserIn]
Pang, Yanyang [VerfasserIn]
Lu, Zi [VerfasserIn]
Liu, Aiqun [VerfasserIn]
Lu, Xiaoling [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext [kostenfrei]

Themen:

Cytokine-induced killer cells
Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4
Nanobody

Anmerkungen:

© The Author(s) 2021

doi:

10.1186/s12885-021-08732-5

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

OLC2127767438