In vitro antitumor immune response induced by fusion of dendritic cells and colon cancer cells.

AIM: The prevention of recurrence of colon cancer (CC) after operation is very important for improvement of the prognosis of CC patients, especially those with micro-metastasis. The generation of fused cells between dendritic cells (DCs) and tumor cells maybe an effective approach for tumor antigen presentation in immunotherapy. In this study, we fused human colon caner SW480 cells and human peripheral blood - derived DCs to induce an antitumor activity against human CC.

METHODS: CC SW480 cells and human peripheral blood - derived DCs were fused with 500 mL/L polyethylene glycol (PEG).

RESULTS: The specific T cell responses activated by fusion cells (FCs), were observed. About 100 mL/L to 160 mL/L of the PEG-treated non-adherent cells with fluorescences were considered to be dendritomas that highly expressed the key molecules for antigen presentation in our five cases. In vitro studies showed that fusions effectively activated CD8(+) T lymphocytes to secrete interferon-gamma. The early apoptotic ratio of the colon cancer SW480 cells was higher than that of controls, which was affected by cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) stimulated by dendritomas.

CONCLUSION: The data indicate that fusion of tumor cells with DCs is an attractive strategy to induce tumor rejection.