Presence and specificity of tumor associated lymphocytes from ascites fluid in prostate cancer
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Published on: August 14, 2019
Volkan Ozenci1, Ashley M Miller, Andreas Palmborg
1Immune and Gene Therapy Laboratory, Cancer Centre Karolinska, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
Background:
In the present study, we had the rare opportunity to study immunological responses of TAL from ascites fluid in a patient with hormone-refractory prostate cancer.
Methods:
We evaluated tumor antigen-specific T-cell responses, induced by either prostate specific antigen (PSA) pulsed dendritic cells (DCs) or PSA peptides, in TAL and peripheral blood lymphocytes.
Results:
DC stimulation with PSA protein induced recognition of naturally processed PSA epitopes by both blood and ascites T cells. In contrast, only ascites T cells recognized the PSA-3 peptide, after stimulation with PSA-pulsed DCs or peptides. Finally, although IFNgamma secreting T cells were detectable in both blood and ascites by ELISPOT, multiplex cytokine assay detected the presence of predominantly Th2 cytokines.
Conclusions:
Although tumor antigen-specific TAL were detected in ascites fluid, these cells were producing immunosuppressive cytokines which may contribute to tumor escape from recognition and/or destruction by the immune system.
