Induction of tumour-specific CD8(+) cytotoxic T lymphocytes by tumour lysate-pulsed autologous dendritic cells in patients with uterine serous papillary cancer.
Uterine serous papillary carcinoma is a highly aggressive variant of endometrial cancer histologically similar to high grade ovarian cancer. Unlike ovarian cancer, however, it is a chemoresistant disease from onset, with responses to combined cisplatinum-based chemotherapy in the order of 20% and an extremely poor prognosis. In this study, we demonstrate that tumour lysate-pulsed autologous dendritic cells can elicit a specific CD8(+) cytotoxic T lymphocyte response against autologous tumour target cells in three patients with uterine serous papillary cancer. CTL from patients 1 and 2 expressed strong cytolytic activity against autologous tumour cells, did not lyse autologous lymphoblasts or autologous EBV-transformed cell lines, and were variably cytotoxic against the NK-sensitive cell line K-562. Patient 3 CD8(+) T cells expressed a modest but reproducible cytotoxicity against autologous tumour cells only at the time of the first priming. Further priming attempts with PBL collected from patient 3 after tumour progression in the lumboaortic lymph nodes were unsuccessful. Cytotoxicity against autologous tumour cells could be significantly inhibited by anti-HLA class I (W6/32) and anti-LFA-1 MAbs. Highly cytotoxic CD8(+) T cells from patients 1 and 2 showed a heterogeneous CD56 expression while CD56 was not expressed by non-cytotoxic CD8(+) T cells from patient 3. Using two colour flow cytometric analysis of intracellular cytokine expression at the single cell level, a striking dominance of IFN-gamma expressors was detectable in CTL populations of patients 1 and 2 while in patient 3 a dominant population of CD8(+) T cells expressing IL-4 and IL-10 was consistently detected. Taken together, these data demonstrate that tumour lysate-pulsed DC can be an effective tool in inducing uterine serous papillary cancer-specific CD8(+) CTL able to kill autologous tumour cells in vitro. However, high levels of tumour specific tolerance in some patients may impose a significant barrier to therapeutic vaccination. These results may have important implications for the treatment in the adjuvant setting of uterine serous papillary cancer patients with active or adoptive immunotherapy.
Santin
A D
AD
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, UAMS Medical Center, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, University of Arkansas, 4301 W. Markham, Little Rock, Arkansas AR 72205-7199, USA. santinalessandrod@uams.edu
Bellone
S
S
Ravaggi
A
A
Roman
J J
JJ
Pecorelli
S
S
Parham
G P
GP
Cannon
M J
MJ
D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000276:immunology*; D016207:Cytokines / Q000096:biosynthesis; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006650:Histocompatibility Testing; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D008875:Middle Aged; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
D016207:Cytokines