Publicaciones científicas

Regulatory T Cell Inhibition by P60 Combined with Adenoviral AFP Transduced Dendritic Cells for Immunotherapy of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

24-nov-2023 | Revista: Immunological Investigations

Farsaneh Sadeghlar 1, Julia Seelemann 1, Annabelle Vogt 1, Christian Möhring 1, Taotao Zhou 1, Robert Mahn 1, Miroslaw Kornek 1, Veronika Lukacs-Kornek 2, Noelia Casares 3, Juan José Lasarte 3, Pablo Sarobe 3, Cornelius van Beekum 3, Hanno Matthaei 4, Steffen Manekeller 4, Jörg Kalff 4, Ingo G H Schmidt-Wolf 1 5, Christian P Strassburg 1, Maria A Gonzalez-Carmona 1


Abstract

Background & aims: Vaccination with tumor-associated antigen-pulsed dendritic cells leads to specific T-cell response against hepatocellular carcinoma. However, clinical response has been shown to be limited. High regulatory T-cell count is associated with poor prognosis and seems to mediate immune tolerance in hepatocellular carcinoma. Forkhead box P3-peptide inhibitor P60 has been shown to specifically inhibit regulatory T-cell function in murine models. Aim of this study was to investigate whether P60 can improve the immune response induced by vaccination with adenovirus-transduced dendritic cells expressing alpha-fetoprotein in subcutaneous and orthotopic murine models for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Methods: Mice developing subcutaneous or orthotopic HCC received daily treatment with P60 starting at different tumor stages. Additionally, mice were vaccinated twice with dendritic cells expressing alpha-fetoprotein.

Results: In a preventive setting prior to tumor engraftment, vaccination with alpha-fetoprotein-expressing dendritic cells significantly decreased tumor growth in a subcutaneous model (p = .0256), but no further effects were achieved by addition of P60. However, P60 enhanced the antitumoral effect of a vaccination with alpha-fetoprotein-expressing dendritic cells in established subcutaneous and orthotopic hepatocellular carcinoma characterized by high Treg levels (p = .011).

Conclusion: In this study, we showed that vaccination with alpha-fetoprotein-expressing dendritic cells in combination with a specific inhibition of regulatory T-cells by using P60 leads to synergistic tumor inhibition and prolonged survival. This emphasizes the importance of regulatory T-cells inhibition for obtaining an effective antitumoral immune response in hepatocellular carcinoma.

CITA DEL ARTÍCULO Immunol Invest. 2023 Nov;52(8):966-984. doi: 10.1080/08820139.2023.2261980. Epub 2023 Nov 24.