Clinical research on dendritic cell vaccines to prevent postoperative recurrence and metastasis of liver cancer.

We aimed to evaluate dendritic cell (DC) tumor vaccines for preventing liver cancer recurrence and metastasis. DCs were induced from mononuclear cells in the peripheral blood with recombinant human granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (rhGM-CSF) and recombinant human interleukin 4 (rhIL-4), followed by sensitization with lysis of autologous liver cancer cells. One hundred and sixty patients with hepatocellular carcinoma were randomly divided into two groups of 80. One group was treated postoperatively with six cycles of the DC tumor vaccine. The other group was treated postoperatively with six cycles of FOLFOX 6, beginning 1 week after surgery. After treatment with DC tumor vaccines, the levels of CD3+, CD4+, and CD8+, the ratio of CD4+ to CD8+ DC, and the serum levels of IL-12 and IFN-γ were significantly increased both in comparison to the pre-treatment levels (P < 0.001) and to the chemotherapy group (P < 0.001). After a postoperative follow-up of 18 months, the metastatic recurrence rate in the DC tumor vaccine group was significantly lower than that in the chemotherapy group (17.50 vs 48.75%, P < 0.005), and the survival rate of the patients in the DC tumor vaccine group was higher than that of the chemotherapy treatment group (86.25 vs 52.50%, P < 0.005). Treatment with DC tumor vaccines was safe and feasible. It can enhance the immunity of the patients, reduce the rates of metastasis and recurrence, and improve survival rates. This is a promising treatment for the prevention of postoperative recurrence in patients with liver cancer.

CpG ODN 1826 enhances radiosensitivity of the human lung cancer cell line A549 in a rat model.

This study investigated the effects of CpG ODN1826 plus radiotherapy (RT) on tumor growth and angiogenesis of subcutaneous tumor in a rat model. Four treatment groups were tested in which rats were injected with 100 µL CpG ODN1826 (1 µg/µL) or 100 µL vehicle, with and without exposure to 8 Gy after 2 h. At 7 days after inoculation of lung cancer cells, drugs were injected in the tumor and radiation was administered over 5 days, after which the rate of tumor inhibition was calculated. Expression of VEGF-C in tumor tissue was seen in 10, 50, 80, and 100% of tumors in the CpG ODN1826 + RT, CpG ODN1826, vehicle + RT, and vehicle alone groups, respectively, while positive expression of NRP-1 was seen in 10, 40, 90, and 100% of tumors. The decreases in expression of VEGF-C mRNA in the CpG ODN1826 + RT and CpG ODN1826 groups compared with the NS + RT and NS groups were significant (P < 0.01), as were the decreases in NRP-1 mRNA in the CpG ODN1826 + RT group compared with the CpG ODN1826 group (P < 0.01). Thus, CpG ODN1826 can significantly inhibit tumor growth in a rat model, the mechanism of which may be related to inhibition of the expression of VEGF-C and NRP-1, which have an inhibitory effect on angiogenesis.