ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND/AIM: The inhibition of a disintegrin and metalloproteinase (ADAM) has the potential to become a novel approach for natural killer (NK) cell-based cancer immunotherapy. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the influence of ADAM10 and ADAM17 inhibitors on expanded NK cell to enhance antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) in breast cancer cell lines. MATERIALS AND METHODS: NK cells were expanded in medium supplemented with an ADAM10 or ADAM17 inhibitor to prevent the shedding of soluble CD16/FcγRIII. The expression level of CD16 and production of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) was detected by flow cytometry using specific antibodies. ADCC activity of expanded NK cells was estimated in trastuzumab treated breast cancer cell lines such as MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, SKBR3, and BT-474 cells. RESULTS: The ADAM17 inhibitor increased the purity of expanded NK cells to 90% after 14 days at 5 and 10 µM in vitro (p=0.043). However, the expansion rate of NK cells was decreased at 10 µM of the ADAM 17 inhibitor (p=0.043). Inhibition of ADAM10 suppressed the expansion of NK cells, although the NK purity was increased at 1 µM of the inhibitor. The expression of CD16 was significantly increased at 1 and 5 µM of the ADAM17 inhibitor (p=0.046, 0.028, respectively) during the culturing period. Inhibition of ADAM10 reduced the expression of CD16 on NK cells. The cytotoxic activity of the ADAM17 inhibitor treated NK cells against MCF-7 (p=0.039) and BT-474 (p=0.027) cells was significantly elevated. The ADCC activity of NK cells treated with 5 µM of ADAM17 inhibitor was significantly increased against SKBR-3 and BT-474 (p=0.027). Inhibition of ADAM17 increased the production of IFN-γ in expanded NK cells. CONCLUSION: The inhibition of ADAM17 enhanced the purity of expanded NK cells and the ADCC activity of these cells against trastuzumab treated breast cancer cell lines.
