Co-delivery of tumor-derived exosomes with alpha-galactosylceramide on dendritic cell-based immunotherapy for glioblastoma

PMID: 28947140
Journal: Cancer letters (volume: 411, issue: , Cancer Lett. 2017 12;411:182-190)
Published: 2017-09-23

Authors:
Liu H, Chen L, Liu J, Meng H, Zhang R, Ma L, Wu L, Yu S, Shi F, Li Y, Zhang L, Wang L, Feng S, Zhang Q, Peng Y, Wu Q, Liu C, Chang X, Yang L, Uemura Y, Yu X, Liu T

ABSTRACT

Dendritic cell (DC) vaccine-based immunotherapy for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) has shown apparent benefit in animal experiments and early-phase clinical trials, but the survival benefit is variable. In this work, we analyzed the mechanism of the potent antitumor immune response induced in vivo by tumor-associated antigen (TAA)-specific DCs with an invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cell adjuvant in orthotopic glioblastoma-bearing rats vaccinated with tumor-derived exosomes and α-galactosylceramide (α-GalCer) -pulsed DCs. Compared with traditional tumor lysate, exosomes were utilized as a more potent antigen to load DCs. iNKT cells, as an effective cellular adjuvant activated by α-GalCer, strengthened TAA presentation through their interaction with DCs. Co-delivery of tumor-derived exosomes with α-GalCer on a DC-based vaccine showed powerful effects in glioblastoma immunotherapy. This vaccine induced strong activation and proliferation of tumor-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes, synergistically breaking the immune tolerance and improving the immunosuppressive environment.