In vitro antigen-specific cytotoxic T cell response against esophageal carcinoma cells induced by HPV18E7-transfected dendritic cells
Lin Wu1,2, Wei Yang1, Lin-Xin Chen1, Shen-Ren Chen1 and Jin-Kun Zhang3
1The Second Affiliated Hospital of Shan Tou University Medical College, Shan Tou, GuangDong, China, 2Central Hospital of ShanTou City, Shan Tou, GuangDong, China and 3Department of Oncopathology and the Key Immunopathology Laboratory of GuangDong Province, ShanTou University Medical College, ShanTou, GuangDong, China.
Offprint requests to: Shen-Ren Chen, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Shan Tou, University of Medical College, Shan Tou, GuangDong, China 515041. e-mail: chen-shenren@163.com
Summary. Human Papillomavirus (HPV)-associated esophageal carcinoma (EC) is a high incidence tumor worldwide. Dendritic cell (DC)-based tumor vaccine is considered an alternative therapy to treat EC. Here we developed a DC-based vaccine by transfecting cord blood CD34+ stem cell-derived DC with HPV18E7 gene, observed its biological characteristics and the antigen-specific T-cell cytotoxicity on EC cells induced by HPV18E7-DC in vitro. Our results showed that 1) HPV18E7 gene transfer did not change the typical morphology of mature DC, 2) the representative phenotypes of mature DC (CD80, CD86, and CD83) were highly expressed in HPV18E7- DC (81.6%, 80.5%, and 86.6%, respectively), 3) the expression level of 18E7 protein in HPV18E7-DC was 47.5%, and 4) the specific cytotoxicity against EC cells was significantly higher than that in controls (p<0.01). This study indicates the possibility of a DC-based immunotherapy in HPV-associated EC. Histol Histopathol 25, 197-203 (2010)
Key words: Dendritic cell (DC), Esophageal carcinoma (EC), Human Papillomavirus (HPV), Cord blood stem cell, Immunotherapy
DOI: 10.14670/HH-25.197