Transduction of dendritic cells with recombinant adenovirus encoding HCA661 activates autologous cytotoxic T lymphocytes to target hepatoma cells

Br J Cancer. 2004 Apr 19;90(8):1636-43. doi: 10.1038/sj.bjc.6601706.

Abstract

Transduction of recombinant adenovirus into dendritic cells (DCs) is a promising new tool for cancer vaccine development. Here, we report that an adenovirus vector carrying hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) antigen HCA661 and infected into DCs generates T-cell immunity against hepatoma cells. HCA661 is a novel cancer/testis (CT) antigen screened by SEREX from sera of an HCC patient. We constructed a recombinant adenovirus expressing the full-length cDNA of HCA661 gene and then transduced immature DCs, which had been generated with GM-CSF and IL-4 from peripheral blood mononuclear cell of HLA-A2(+) healthy donors. The resulting adenovirus-transduced DCs differentiated in the presence of monocyte-conditioned medium and poly [I] : poly [C], expressing the surface markers of mature DCs, including CD83, CD80, CD86 and HLA-DR. After maturation, the transduced DCs transcribed HCA661 mRNA and were able to prime the naïve T cells to become cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). Intracellular flow cytometry and enzyme-linked immunospot assay showed that these CTLs were able to target a hepatoma cell line, HepG2, which is HLA-A2 and HCA661 positive. In summary, we found that this recombinant adenovirus can help to induce DC maturation and these mature DCs can activate T cells to target hepatoma cells. Therefore, this recombinant adenovirus may have potential for use in liver cancer immunotherapy.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adenoviridae / genetics*
  • Antigens, Neoplasm / immunology*
  • Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / genetics*
  • Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / pathology
  • Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / therapy
  • Cell Culture Techniques
  • Cell Differentiation*
  • Culture Media
  • DNA, Complementary
  • Dendritic Cells*
  • Flow Cytometry
  • Humans
  • Immunotherapy / methods*
  • Liver Neoplasms / genetics*
  • Liver Neoplasms / pathology
  • Liver Neoplasms / therapy
  • Lymphocyte Activation
  • Monocytes
  • Phenotype
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / immunology*
  • Transduction, Genetic*

Substances

  • Antigens, Neoplasm
  • Culture Media
  • DNA, Complementary