Major Histocompatibilty Complex-Restricted Adaptive Immune Responses to CT26 Colon Cancer Cell Line in Mixed Allogeneic Chimera

Transplant Proc. 2017 Jun;49(5):1153-1159. doi: 10.1016/j.transproceed.2017.03.011.

Abstract

Background: Although the induction of mixed allogeneic chimera shows promising clinical tolerance results in organ transplantation, its clinical relevance as an anti-cancer therapy is yet unknown. We introduced a mixed allogenic chimera setting with the use of a murine colon cancer cell line, CT26, by performing double bone marrow transplantation.

Methods: We analyzed donor- and recipient-restricted anti-cancer T-cell responses, and phenotypes of subpopulations of T cells. The protocol involves challenging 1 × 105 cells of CT26 cells intra-hepatically on day 50 after bone marrow transplantation, and, by use of CT26 lysates and an H-2Ld-restricted AH1 pentamer, flow cytometric analysis was performed to detect the generation of cancer-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells at various time points.

Results: We found that immunocompetence against tumors depends heavily on cancer-specific CD8+ T-cell responses in a major histocompatibility complex-restricted manner; the evidence was further supported by the increase of interferon-γ-secreting CD4+ T cells. Moreover, we demonstrated that during the effector immune response to CT26 cancer challenge, there was a presence of central memory cells (CD62LhiCCR7+) as well as effector memory cells (CD62LloCCR7-). Moreover, mixed allogeneic chimeras (BALB/c to C56BL/6 or vice versa) showed similar or heightened immune responses to CT26 cells compared with that of wild-type mice.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that the responses of primary immunocompetency and of pre-existing memory T cells against allogeneic cancer are sustained and preserved long-term in a mixed allogeneic chimeric environment.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Bone Marrow Transplantation
  • CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes* / immunology
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Colonic Neoplasms* / immunology
  • Immunity, Humoral
  • Major Histocompatibility Complex* / immunology
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Transplantation Chimera*
  • Transplantation, Homologous