Gene expression profiling of CD8(+) T cells induced by ovarian cancer cells suggests a possible mechanism for CD8(+) Treg cell production.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate a possible mechanism of CD8(+) regulatory T-cell (Treg) production in an ovarian cancer (OC) microenvironment.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Agilent microarray was used to detect changes in gene expression between CD8(+) T cells cultured with and without the SKOV3 ovarian adenocarcinoma cell line. QRT-PCR was performed to determine glycolysis gene expression in CD8(+) T cells from a transwell culturing system and OC patients. We also detected protein levels of glycolysis-related genes using Western blot analysis.

RESULTS: Comparing gene expression profiles revealed significant differences in expression levels of 1420 genes, of which 246 were up-regulated and 1174 were down-regulated. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analysis indicated that biological processes altered in CD8(+) Treg are particularly associated with energy metabolism. CD8(+) Treg cells induced by co-culture with SKOV3 had lower glycolysis gene expression compared to CD8(+) T cells cultured alone. Glycolysis gene expression was also decreased in the CD8(+) T cells of OC patients.

CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide a comprehensive bioinformatics analysis of DEGs in CD8(+) T cells cultured with and without SKOV3 and suggests that metabolic processes may be a possible mechanism for CD8(+) Treg induction.