Background & objective: Dendritic cells (DCs) are antigen-presenting cells, and DC-based fusion vaccine of DCs with tumor cells can induce specific immune response against tumor cells effectively. This study was to investigate the antitumor immunity efficacy of fusion vaccine of DCs with human esophageal carcinoma EC109 cells in vitro.
Methods: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from healthy volunteers were isolated, and cultured with recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (rhGM-CSF) and interleukin-4 (IL-4) to generate DCs. Fusion cells of DCs with EC109 cells were generated by polyethylene glycol (PEG) protocol. The T-cell proliferation response stimulated by DC/EC109 cells was detected by MTT assay. The killing efficacy of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs), activated by DC/EC109 cells, on EC109 cells was evaluated by LDH assay in vitro, and compared with the killing efficacy on human gastric carcinoma SGC7901 cells and human breast cancer MCF7 cells.
Results: The highest fusion efficiency of DCs with EC109 cells was 22.25%. The stimulating efficacy of DC/EC109 cells on the proliferation of T cells was significantly higher than those of DCs and EC109 cells (P<0.05). DC/EC109 cells induced specific CTLs against EC109 cells, and the killing efficacy of the CTLs was significantly higher for EC109 cells than for SGC7901 cells or MCF7 cells (P<0.05).
Conclusion: C/EC109 fusion vaccine can induce specific antitumor response against EC109 cells effectively.