趋化因子受体CCR7在T细胞淋巴瘤播散中的作用

目的:探讨趋化因子受体CCR7在T细胞淋巴瘤播散中的作用;旨在为T细胞淋巴瘤靶点治疗的新方向提供一定的实验基础及理论依据.方法:皮肤T细胞淋巴瘤Hut78和成人T淋巴细胞白血病/淋巴瘤Jurkat细胞株培养,通过Transwell小室检测了细胞体外侵袭能力并进行比较;通过RT-PCR和Western-blot技术对两种细胞株的CCR7和PI3K/Akt信号转导通路的表达进行了检测.结果:1)Hut78细胞体外侵袭能力较强;两种T细胞淋巴瘤细胞经过CCL21共培养后,侵袭能力均有所增强,且均呈现与CCL21浓度的正相关趋势;2)Hut78细胞中CCR7mRNA,PI3KmRNA、AktmRNA均高于Jurkat细胞,差异均有显著性(P＜0.001);CCR7、pAkt蛋白在Hut78细胞中的表达也明显高于Jurkat细胞(P＜0.05).结论:T细胞淋巴瘤中高表达的CCR7与肿瘤的侵袭性有关,可能通过PI3K/Akt信号通路促进肿瘤的侵袭和播散.     

调节性T细胞诱导肿瘤免疫耐受的机制

调节性T细胞(Treg)是一类免疫抑制性T辅助(Th)细胞.研究表明,Treg可在肿瘤细胞分泌的趋化因子CCL22作用下大量募集于肿瘤周围,分泌或表达免疫抑制性的细胞因子和受体,形成以Th2型免疫为主的微环境,引导宿主免疫耐受.通过抗体等药物降低Treg数量和活性后可打破肿瘤免疫耐受,抑制肿瘤的发生和转移.     

趋化因子CCL18与肿瘤

趋化因子CCL18通过招募炎症细胞参与机体的免疫和炎症过程,发挥免疫调控作用.在肿瘤患者血清及某些肿瘤组织中CCL18蛋白表达明显增加.然而CCL18在肿瘤中是发挥促癌作用还是抑癌作用尚存在争议.研究CCL18的作用及作用机制能够为肿瘤诊治提供新的靶向目标.     

靶向CCL2-CCR2轴的肿瘤治疗研究进展

 单核细胞趋化蛋白-1（MCP-1/CCL2）是CC类趋化因子家族成员之一。CCL2作用广泛，主要结合CC类趋化因子受体2（CCR2）趋化单核细胞、巨噬细胞和T淋巴细胞。许多研究表明CCL2-CCR2轴参与肿瘤细胞生长存活、血管生成、肿瘤侵袭和转移的调控。本文综述了CCL2-CCR2轴在前列腺癌、乳腺癌、肝癌等肿瘤发生、发展、转移的作用和临床前动物模型实验以及靶向CCL2-CCR2轴的肿瘤治疗临床试验的进展、前景和挑战。     

CCL21/CCR7轴与肿瘤侵袭转移的机制

趋化因子CCL21具有双向效应,其通过与多种免疫细胞表面表达的受体CCR7结合,发挥抗肿瘤、抗感染等免疫效应,而多种肿瘤细胞表面亦表达CCR7,两者结合则促进肿瘤细胞的侵袭转移,导致肿瘤进展.故探析CCL21/CCR7与肿瘤侵袭转移机制,阻断其不利效应,使CCL21有希望用于肿瘤基因治疗.     

乌司他丁抑制CCL17/CCL22-CCR4介导的小鼠乳腺癌肝转移

背景与目的：越来越多的研究表明趋化因子及其受体在癌症的发生、发展和转移中起关键作用。本文研究了乌司他丁（ulinastatin）对胸腺和活化调节趋化因子（thymus and activation-regulated chemokine,TARC）即CCL17/巨噬细胞来源的趋化因子（macrophage-derived chemokine,MDC）即CCL22-CC族趋化因子受体4（CC chemokine receptor 4,CCR4）信号通路介导的乳腺癌肝转移的影响及其作用机制。方法：通过小鼠乳腺脂肪垫（mfp）接种4T1乳腺癌细胞的方式构建小鼠乳腺癌模型,15 d后取小鼠乳腺肿瘤,并记录乳腺肿瘤的质量;采用免疫组织化学法检测乳腺肿瘤组织中CCR4及肝脏转移瘤中CCL22、CCL17蛋白的表达;采用慢病毒转染的方式抑制4T1乳腺癌细胞CCR4基因,采用蛋白质印迹法（Western blot）检测抑制效果,并以同样方式进行小鼠乳腺成瘤并观察肿瘤生长情况;用三种不同浓度乌司他丁处理4T1细胞荷瘤小鼠,15 d后采用免疫组织化学法检测乳腺癌组织中CCR4及肝脏组织中CCL22及CCL17的表达,采用Westernblot和实时荧光定量聚合酶链反应（real-time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction,RTFQ-PCR）分别检测肝脏组织中TGF-β的表达以及microRNA-34a和microRNA-31的含量,并进行TGF-β和microRNA-34a、microRNA-31、CCL22以及CCL17的相关性分析。结果：小鼠乳腺癌组织高表达CCR4,肝脏转移瘤高表达CCL22和CCL17;沉默4T1乳腺癌细胞CCR4的表达,可抑制乳腺癌成瘤性;乌司他丁抑制CCR4、TGF-β、CCL22、microRNA-31和CCL17的表达,促进microRNA-34a的表达。结论：乌司他丁具有抑制乳腺癌肝转移的作用,其具体机制可能与乌司他丁通过TGF-β-microRNA-34a-CCL22轴及microRNA-31-TGF-β-CCL17轴抑制肝乳腺癌;肝转移;乌司他丁;CCR4;CCL22;CCL17脏组织中与乳腺癌肝转移密切相关的CCL17/CCL22-CCR4信号通路有关。     

趋化因子CCL5表达与肾透明细胞癌病理特征及预后的相关性研究

目的:明确趋化因子CCL5表达水平与肾透明细胞癌患者病理特征及患者预后的相关性。方法:收集本院2006年1月至2014年1月行手术治疗并术后病理证实为肾透明细胞癌患者肿瘤及对应癌旁组织标本（90例）,术后随访时间为18~90个月,应用免疫组织化学、蛋白印迹法、ELISA方法分别检测趋化因子CCL5表达、血清浓度状况,分析CCL5表达与肾脏透明细胞癌临床病理特征及预后的关系。结果:肾透明细胞癌患者血清中趋化因子CCL5浓度显著高于正常非肿瘤患者（P=0.015 2）;趋化因子CCL5在肾透明细胞癌组织内蛋白表达水平显著高于癌旁组织（P<0.01）;CCL5表达强度与肿瘤大小（P<0.01）、病理分级（P<0.01）、临床分期（P<0.05）呈正相关性,而与性别与年龄关系不密切（P>0.05）;CCL5表达强度与患者总生存时间（OR）呈负相关性且具有显著性差异（P<0.001）。结论:趋化因子CCL5表达水平与透明细胞癌患者病理特征及预后关系密切,其异常高表达可能是促进透明细胞癌发生发展的重要原因,并有可能作为肾透明细胞癌早期监测指标及潜在治疗靶点。     

食管鳞状细胞癌组织中CCL26的表达及其临床意义

背景与目的：趋化因子在癌症的发生、发展过程中起着重要的作用,但趋化因子CCL26在食管鳞状细胞癌组织中的表达功能报道甚少。本研究旨在探讨趋化因子CCL26在人食管鳞状细胞癌组织及正常食管黏膜组织中的表达水平,分析其与食管鳞状细胞癌相关临床病理指标之间的关系。方法：利用组织微阵列技术制作组织芯片,采用免疫组织化学ABC法分析197例食管鳞状细胞癌组织和相应癌旁正常食管黏膜组织中趋化因子CCL26的表达水平,并对食管鳞状细胞癌中趋化因子CCL26的表达与患者年龄、性别、临床分期、淋巴结转移及5年生存率等临床病理指标的相关性进行分析。结果：①趋化因子CCL26在食管鳞状细胞癌组织及癌旁正常组织中均有表达,在食管鳞状细胞癌组织中趋化因子CCL26的阳性表达率明显高于癌旁正常组,差异有统计学意义(61.8% vs 20.6%,P<0.05);②趋化因子CCL26的表达与淋巴结转移有关,而与患者的年龄、性别、组织学类型、肿瘤细胞分化程度和大体分型等无关(P>0.05);③趋化因子CCL26阳性表达的食管鳞状细胞癌患者5年生存率明显低于趋化因子CCL26阴性表达的食管鳞状细胞癌患者。结论：趋化因子CCL26高表达可能与食管鳞状细胞癌的发生、发展相关,导致5年生存率下降,检测趋化因子CCL26可能为食管鳞状细胞癌预后判断提供依据。     

c-Met蛋白在CCL5诱导的乳腺癌MDA-MB-231细胞迁移中的作用

目的:探讨c-Met蛋白在CC型趋化因子5(CCL5)诱导的乳腺癌MDA-MB-231细胞迁移中的作用.方法:Western-Blot检测乳腺癌MDA-MB-231细胞表面CCL5受体(CCR5)的表达情况;Transwell法检测CCL5诱导的MDA-MB-231细胞迁移能力的变化;Western-Blot检测CCL5刺激后MDA-MB-231细胞c-Met及磷酸化c-Met(p-Met)的表达.结果:乳腺癌MDA-MB-231细胞表面高表达CCR5蛋白;CCL5增强MDA-MB-231细胞的迁移能力,沉默CCR5基因后抑制了CCR5蛋白表达,MDA-MB-231细胞迁移能力降低;MDA-MB-231细胞表达的p-Met水平在CCL5刺激10 min后明显升高.结论:CCL5/CCR5信号通路可以促进乳腺癌MDA-MB-231细胞的迁移能力,c-Met蛋白参与CCL5诱导的乳腺癌MDA-MB-231细胞迁移.     

Cancer Cell揭示肿瘤与免疫细胞的信息交流

<正>路德维希癌症研究中心的科研人员研究了趋化因子在调节实体瘤中T细胞聚集中的作用。结果表明,趋化因子CCL5和CXCL9过表达与实体瘤中的CD8+T细胞浸润有关,这两种分子在肿瘤与免疫细胞间的信息交流起到关键作用。该研究结果发表于近期的《Cancer Cell》杂志。此次研究主要目的是研究在肿瘤微环境中肿瘤细胞与免疫细胞究竟     

CCL21 is an effective surgical neoadjuvant for treatment of mammary tumors

In previous studies, the chemokine CCL21 has shown biological activities that include T cell, natural killer (NK) cell, and dendritic cell (DC) chemoattraction. The goal of this study was to determine the effects of administering CCL21 to orthotopic mammary tumors in terms of impact on tumor growth rate, immune cell infiltration of the primary tumor and survival. We found that a single intratumoral administration of CCL21 slowed the growth of orthotopic mammary tumors and increased intratumoral infiltration by T cells, NK cells and DCs. CCL21 intratumoral administration also prolonged the survival of tumor-earing mice. Furthermore, mice that received intratumoral neoadjuvant CCL21 ior to surgical resection of tumors survived significantly longer than control mice. The urviving neoadjuvant CCL21-reated mice, when challenged again with cl-6, had significantly slower rate of tumor growth than challenged control mice. Thus, our ata indicate that CCL21 treatment prior to mammary tumor resection can significantly rolong survival and increase resistance to subsequent tumor challenge. Overall, our indings suggest that intratumoral administration of CCL21 has potential as a neoadjuvant mmunotherapy for breast cancer.     

CCL21 induces extensive intratumoral immune cell infiltration and specific anti-tumor cellular immunity

Chemokines are vital messengers that regulate immune cell activity. The chemokine CCL21 is normally expressed in secondary lymphoid organs and acts as a chemoattractant for several populations of immune cells. Herein, we report that intratumoral CCL21 administration recruited significant numbers of immune cells into murine pancreatic tumors and inhibited tumor growth. Detailed flow cytometric and confocal analysis of CCL21-treated tumor cell isolates revealed increased lymphoid-related dendritic cells (lDC) and myeloid DC (mDC), na?ve and mature T cells, natural killer (NK) cells, and NKT cells infiltrating the tumor mass. Furthermore, CCL21 intratumoral treatments resulted in significant tumor growth inhibition in wild-type (WT) C57BL/6 mice, but no therapeutic benefit was observed in C57BL/6 RAG2-/-Pfp-/- mice, suggesting that the growth inhibition observed was immunologically mediated. CCL21 intratumoral injections generated immune responses that were tumor-specific and that could be transferred to na?ve animals via splenocytes. In addition, intratumoral injection of CCL21 into pancreatic tumors reduced the growth of distant tumors as well as treated tumors. Thus, these data demonstrate in a pancreatic tumor model that intratumoral administration of CCL21 can cause significant immune cell infiltration of the tumor mass, delay growth of treated tumors, and generate a tumor-specific cellular immune response.     

CCL21-Ser expression in melanoma cells recruits CCR7+ naïve T cells to tumor tissues and promotes tumor growth

CCL21-Ser, a chemokine encoded by the Ccl21a gene, is constitutively expressed in the thymic epithelial cells and stromal cells of secondary lymphoid organs. It regulates immune cell migration and survival through its receptor CCR7. Herein, using CCL21-Ser-expressing melanoma cells and the Ccl21a-deficient mice, we demonstrated the functional role of cancer cell-derived CCL21-Ser in melanoma growth in vivo. The B16-F10 tumor growth was significantly decreased in Ccl21a-deficient mice compared with that in wild-type mice, indicating that host-derived CCL21-Ser contributes to melanoma proliferation in vivo. In Ccl21a-deficient mice, tumor growth of melanoma cells expressing CCL21-Ser was significantly enhanced, suggesting that CCL21-Ser from melanoma cells promotes tumor growth in the absence of host-derived CCL21-Ser. The increase in tumor growth was associated with an increase in the CCR7⁺ CD62L⁺ T cell frequency in the tumor tissue but was inversely correlated with Treg frequency, suggesting that naïve T cells primarily promote tumor growth. Adoptive transfer experiments demonstrated that naïve T cells are preferentially recruited from the blood into tumors with melanoma cell-derived CCL21-Ser expression. These results suggest that CCL21-Ser from melanoma cells promotes the infiltration of CCR7⁺ naïve T cells into the tumor tissues and creates a tumor microenvironment favorable for melanoma growth.     

Chemokine C-C motif ligand 21 synergized with programmed death-ligand 1 blockade restrains tumor growth

Programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) blockade has revolutionized the prognosis of several cancers, but shows a weak effect on pancreatic cancer (PC) due to poor effective immune infiltration. Chemokine C-C motif ligand 21 (CCL21), a chemokine promoting T cell immunity by recruiting and colocalizing dendritic cells (DCs) and T cells, serves as a potential antitumor agent in many cancers. However, its antitumor response and mechanism combined with PD-L1 blockade in PC remain unclear. In our study, we found CCL21 played an important role in leukocyte chemotaxis, inflammatory response, and positive regulation of PI3K-AKT signaling in PC using Metascape and gene set enrichment analysis. The CCL21 level was verified to be positively correlated with infiltration of CD8⁺ T cells by the CIBERSORT algorithm, but no significant difference in survival was observed in either The Cancer Genome Atlas or the International Cancer Genome Consortium cohort when stratified by CCL21 expression. Additionally, we found the growth rate of allograft tumors was reduced and T cell infiltration was increased, but tumor PD-L1 abundance elevated simultaneously in the CCL21-overexpressed tumors. Then, CCL21 was further verified to increase tumor PD-L1 level through the AKT-glycogen synthase kinase-3β axis in human PC cells, which partly impaired the antitumor T cell immunity. Finally, the combination of CCL21 and PD-L1 blockade showed superior synergistic tumor suppression in vitro and in vivo. Together, our findings suggested that CCL21 in combination with PD-L1 blockade might be an efficient and promising option for the treatment of PC.     

Delivery of CCL21 to metastatic disease improves the efficacy of adoptive T-cell therapy

Adoptive T-cell transfer has achieved significant clinical success in advanced melanoma. However, therapeutic efficacy is limited by poor T-cell survival after adoptive transfer and by inefficient trafficking to tumor sites. Here, we report that intratumoral expression of the chemokine CCL21 enhances the efficacy of adoptive T-cell therapy in a mouse model of melanoma. Based on our novel observation that CCL21 is highly chemotactic for activated OT-1 T cells in vitro and down-regulates expression of CD62L, we hypothesized that tumor cell-mediated expression of this chemokine might recruit, and retain, adoptively transferred T cells to the sites of tumor growth. Mice bearing metastatic tumors stably transduced with CCL21 survived significantly longer following adoptive T-cell transfer than mice bearing non-CCL21-expressing tumors. However, although we could not detect increased trafficking of the adoptively transferred T cells to tumors, tumor-expressed CCL21 promoted the survival and cytotoxic activity of the adoptively transferred T cells and led to the priming of antitumor immunity following T-cell transfer. To translate these observations into a protocol of real clinical usefulness, we showed that adsorption of a retrovirus encoding CCL21 to OT-1 T cells before adoptive transfer increased the therapeutic efficacy of a subsequently administered dose of OT-1 T cells, resulting in cure of metastatic disease and the generation of immunologic memory in the majority of treated mice. These studies indicate a promising role for CCL21 in enhancing the therapeutic efficacy of adoptive T-cell therapy.     

Tumor suppressive efficacy through augmentation of tumor-infiltrating immune cells by intratumoral injection of chemokine-expressing adenoviral vector

Our goal in the present study was to evaluate antitumor effects and frequency of tumor-infiltrating immune cells upon intratumoral injection of RGD fiber-mutant adenoviral vector (AdRGD) encoding the chemokines CCL17, CCL19, CCL20, CCL21, CCL22, CCL27, XCL1, and CX3CL1. Among eight kinds of chemokine-expressing AdRGDs, AdRGD-CCL19 injection most efficiently induced infiltration of T cells into established B16BL6 tumor parenchyma, whereas most of these T cells were perforin-negative in immunohistochemical analysis. Additionally, the growth of AdRGD-CCL19-injected tumors decreased only slightly as well as that of other tumors treated with each chemokine-expressing AdRGD, which indicated that accumulation of naive T cells in tumor tissue does not effectively damage the tumor cells. Tumor-bearing mice, in which B16BL6-specific T cells were elicited by dendritic cell-based immunization, demonstrated that intratumoral injection of AdRGD-CCL17, -CCL22, or -CCL27 could considerably suppress tumor growth and attract activated T cells. On the other hand, AdRGD-CCL19-injection in the immunized mice showed slight increase of tumor-infiltrating T cells compared to treatment using control vector. Collectively, although AdRGD-mediated chemokine gene transduction into established tumors would be very useful for augmentation of tumor-infiltrating immune cells, a combinational treatment that can systemically induce tumor-specific effector T cells is necessary for satisfactory antitumor efficacy.     

Synergistic antitumor effect by coexpression of chemokine CCL21/SLC and costimulatory molecule LIGHT

To establish a more efficient treatment for immunotherapy against solid tumors, we have evaluated the antitumor effect by coexpression of a chemokine CCL21/secondary lymphoid tissue chemokine and a costimulatory molecule LIGHT in colon carcinoma C26. C26 cells expressing either CCL21 or LIGHT exhibited a significantly reduced tumor growth in vivo, and mice inoculated with these cells showed a prolonged survival, but eventually all these mice died. In contrast, C26 cells expressing both CCL21 and LIGHT exhibited a minimal tumor growth in vivo, and all these mice survived healthily with a tumor remission and consequently acquired a strong protective immunity. A markedly increased infiltration of mature dendritic cells (DCs), and CD8(+) T cells was observed in the tumor mass, and their spleen cells showed a greatly enhanced cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) activity against C26 tumor and interferon (IFN)-gamma production. Neutralization of IFN-gamma or depletion of CD8(+) or CD4(+) T cells significantly reduced the antitumor activity. These results suggest that the combined treatment with CCL21 and LIGHT is able to induce a synergistic antitumor effect to eradicate tumor completely by greatly enhancing tumor-infiltration of lymphocytes including mature DCs and CD8(+) T cells, resulting in markedly augmented CTL activity and IFN-gamma production.     

CCL21 (SLC) improves tumor protection by a DNA vaccine in a Her2/neu mouse tumor model

Secondary lymphoid-tissue chemokine (SLC/CCL21) is a CC chemokine that is constitutively expressed in various lymphoid tissues and binds to chemokine receptor CCR7 on mature dendritic cells (DCs) and distinct T-and B-cell sub-populations. In vivo, CCL21 regulates the encounters between DC and T cells and thus is a key regulator of adaptive immune responses. We asked whether CCL21 is able to augment immunogenicity of a DNA-based vaccine against Her2/neu in a Balb/c mouse model with syngeneic Her2/neu+ tumor cells (D2F2/E2). Mice were vaccinated intramuscularly with plasmid DNA (pDNA) on day 1 and boosted on day 15; tumor challenge was performed subcutaneously on day 25. Coexpression of CCL21 and Her-2/neu resulted in induction of a TH1-polarized immune response and substantial improvement of the protective effect of the DNA vaccine. Coexpression of tumor antigen pDNA(Her2/neu) with both pDNA(GM-CSF) and pDNA(CCL21) as adjuvants led to further improvement of protection by the vaccine (70% tumor-free mice on day 35 vs 40% with either adjuvant alone vs 5-10% with tumor antigen alone). Our results show that CCL21 is a potent adjuvant for DNA vaccination, particularly in combination with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF). Clinical use of a pDNA(Her2/neu/CCL21/GM-CSF) vaccine might be particularly promising in minimal residual Her2/neu+ breast cancer.