Low-dose docetaxel enhances the anti-tumour efficacy of a human umbilical vein endothelial cell vaccine.

Our previous studies have indicated that human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) vaccination appears to be a potentially promising anti-angiogenesis therapy, but the modest therapeutic anti-tumour efficiency limits its clinical use. This highlights the importance of identifying more potent therapeutic HUVEC vaccine strategies for clinical testing. In the present study, the immune-modulating doses of docetaxel (DOC) was combined with 1 × 106 viable HUVECs as a means to enhance the therapeutic anti-tumour efficiency of the HUVEC vaccine. Our results demonstrated that 5 mg/kg DOC administrated prior to HUVEC vaccine could most effectively assist HUVEC vaccine to display a remarkable suppression of tumour growth and metastasis as wells as a prolongation of survival time in a therapeutic procedure. CD31 immunohistochemical analysis of the excised tumours confirmed a significant reduction in vessel density after treatment with the HUVEC vaccine with 5 mg/kg DOC. Additionally, an increased HUVEC-specific antibody level, activated CTLs and an elevated IFN-γ level in cultured splenocytes were revealed after treatment with HUVEC vaccine with 5 mg/kg DOC. Finally, 5 mg/kg DOC coupled with the HUVEC vaccine led to induction of significant increases in CD8+T cells and decrease in Tregs in the tumour microenvironment. Taken together, all the results verified that 5 mg/kg DOC could assist HUVEC vaccine to elicit strong HUVEC specific humoral and cellular responses, which could facilitate the HUVEC vaccine-mediated inhibition of cancer growth and metastasis. These findings provide the immunological rationale for the combined use of immune-modulating doses of DOC and HUVEC vaccines in patients with cancer.

Allyl-isatin suppresses cell viability, induces cell cycle arrest, and promotes cell apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells.

The anticancer effect of the newly synthesized isatin derivative, N-allyl-isatin (Allyl-I), was evaluated in vitro with human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells. Cell viability was detected by cell counting kit-8 (CCK8) assay. Acridine orange (AO)/ethidium bromide (EB) double staining was used to observe the cell morphology. Flow cytometry was used to assess the effects of Allyl-I on the cell cycle, apoptosis rate, and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP). Western blot analysis was performed to detect the influence of Ally1-I on the expression of cytochrome c (cyt c), Bax, Bcl-2, and cleaved caspase-3. Allyl-I significantly inhibited HepG2 cell viability in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Allyl-I can induce cell cycle arrest in HepG2 cells at the G2/M phase. Apoptotic nuclear morphological changes were observed after AO/EB double staining. Fluorescein isothiocyanate-conjugated Annexin V (Annexin V-FITC) and propidium iodide (PI) double staining showed that the apoptotic rates significantly increased in the presence of Allyl-I. Rhodamine 123 staining indicated that Allyl-I can decrease the MMP. Allyl-I also altered the expression of mitochondrial apoptosis-related proteins. Protein levels of cyt c and cleaved caspase-3 were upregulated following Allyl-I treatment. By contrast, the Bcl-2/Bax ratio decreased. Results suggest that Allyl-I suppresses cell viability, induces cell cycle arrest, and promotes cell apoptosis in HepG2 cells. Furthermore, the induction of apoptosis might be correlated with the mitochondrial pathway.