Enhanced stimulation of human tumor-specific T cells by dendritic cells matured in the presence of interferon-γ and multiple toll-like receptor agonists.

Dendritic cell (DC) vaccines have been demonstrated to elicit immunological responses in numerous cancer immunotherapy trials. However, long-lasting clinical effects are infrequent. We therefore sought to establish a protocol to generate DC with greater immunostimulatory capacity. Immature DC were generated from healthy donor monocytes by culturing in the presence of IL-4 and GM-CSF and were further differentiated into mature DC by the addition of cocktails containing different cytokines and toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists. Overall, addition of IFNγ and the TLR7/8 agonist R848 during maturation was essential for the production of high levels of IL-12p70 which was further augmented by adding the TLR3 agonist poly I:C. In addition, the DC matured with IFNγ, R848, and poly I:C also induced upregulation of several other pro-inflammatory and Th1-skewing cytokines/chemokines, co-stimulatory receptors, and the chemokine receptor CCR7. For most cytokines and chemokines the production was even further potentiated by addition of the TLR4 agonist LPS. Concurrently, upregulation of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 was modest. Most importantly, DC matured with IFNγ, R848, and poly I:C had the ability to activate IFNγ production in allogeneic T cells and this was further enhanced by adding LPS to the cocktail. Furthermore, epitope-specific stimulation of TCR-transduced T cells by peptide- or whole tumor lysate-loaded DC was efficiently stimulated only by DC matured in the full maturation cocktail containing IFNγ and the three TLR ligands R848, poly I:C, and LPS. We suggest that this cocktail is used for future clinical trials of anti-cancer DC vaccines.

Dihydroorotate dehydrogenase Inhibitors Target c-Myc and Arrest Melanoma, Myeloma and Lymphoma cells at S-phase.

Dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH) is a rate-limiting enzyme in the de novo biosynthesis pathway of pyrimidines. Inhibition of this enzyme impedes cancer cell proliferation but the exact mechanisms of action of these inhibitors in cancer cells are poorly understood. In this study, we showed that cancer cells, namely melanoma, myeloma and lymphoma overexpressed DHODH protein and treatment with A771726 and Brequinar sodium resulted in cell cycle arrest at S-phase. Transfection with DHODH shRNA depleted DHODH protein expression and impeded the proliferation of melanoma cells. shRNA knockdown of DHODH in combination with DHODH inhibitors further reduced the cancer cell proliferation, suggesting that knockdown of DHODH had sensitized the cells to DHODH inhibitors. Cell cycle regulatory proteins, c-Myc and its transcriptional target, p21 were found down- and up-regulated, respectively, following treatment with DHODH inhibitors in melanoma, myeloma and lymphoma cells. Interestingly, knockdown of DHODH by shRNA had also similarly affected the expression of c-Myc and p21 proteins. Our findings suggest that DHODH inhibitors induce cell cycle arrest in cancer cells via additional DHODH-independent pathway that is associated with p21 up-regulation and c-Myc down-regulation. Hence, DHODH inhibitors can be explored as potential therapeutic agents in cancer therapy.