International Immunology Advance Access originally published online on June 13, 2006
International Immunology 2006 18(8):1279-1283; doi:10.1093/intimm/dxl059
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Dendritic cells pulsed with alpha-galactosylceramide induce anti-tumor immunity against pancreatic cancer in vivo
1 Department of Internal Medicine I, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Sigmund Freud Strasse 25, 53105 Bonn, Germany
2 H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, University of South Florida, MRC-2 E, Room 2068, 12902 Magnolia Dr., Tampa, FL 33612, USA
3 Department of Medicine, John and Rebecca Moores Cancer Center, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0663, USA
Correspondence to: I. G. H. Schmidt-Wolf; E-mail: ingo.schmidt-wolf{at}ukb.uni-bonn.de
Ductal pancreatic adenocarcinoma is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the Western world. Unfortunately, recent advances in diagnostics, staging and therapy have not resulted in significant improvements. Thus, new approaches are necessary to improve the outcome of patients with exocrine pancreatic cancer. We tested triggering of specific T lymphocytes in vivo by using the immunocompetent mouse strain C57BL/6. In the present study, we tried to enhance the anti-tumor effect against pancreatic carcinoma by supplementary triggering of NKT cells in vivo. We challenged Panc02 tumor-bearing mice by intratumoral vaccination with alpha-galactosylceramide (alpha-GalCer)-loaded dendritic cells (DCs). A significant expansion of IFN
-producing NKT cells was observed which also correlated with decrease in tumor growth in vivo. Hence, DCs loaded with alpha-GalCer could lead to a novel treatment option for patients with pancreatic cancer.
Keywords: alpha-galactosylceramide, dendritic cells, NKT cells, pancreatic cancer
* These authors contributed equally to this study.