SYK-targeted dendritic cell-mediated cytotoxic T lymphocytes enhance the effect of immunotherapy on retinoblastoma.

PURPOSE: Retinoblastoma (RB) is the most common primary intraocular tumor in children. Chemotherapy is currently the main method of RB treatment. Unfortunately, RB often becomes chemoresistant and turns lethal. Here, we used in vitro cell immunotherapy to explore whether adoptive immunotherapy could be used as a potential treatment for RB. We focused on spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK), which is significantly upregulated in RB cells and serves as a marker for RB cells. METHODS: Using lentiviruses, we genetically modified dendritic cells (DCs) to express and present the SYK peptide antigen to cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) in vitro. We used SYK-negative cell lines (MDA-MB-231, MCF-10A, and hTERT-RPE1) and SYK-positive cell lines (MCF-7 and RB-Y79) to evaluate the specificity and cytotoxicity of DC presented CTLs using FACS, live-cell imaging, and RNA interference. RESULTS: The cytotoxicity of CTLs induced by SYK-overexpressing DCs (SYK-DC-CTLs) was enhanced more than three times in SYK-positive cell lines compared with SYK-negative cell lines. DCs primed with SYK could drive CTL cytotoxicity against SYK-positive cell lines but not against SYK-negative cell lines. Moreover, SYK-silenced RB-Y79 cells successfully evaded the cytotoxic attack from SYK-DC-CTLs. However, SYK-DC-CTLs could target SYK overexpressed hTERT-RPE1 cells, suggesting that SYK is a specific antigen for RB. Furthermore, SYK-DC-CTL exhibited specific cytotoxicity against carboplatin-resistant RB-Y79 cells in vitro. CONCLUSIONS: Our data showed that SYK could be a potential immunotherapy target mediated by DCs. We propose SYK as a candidate target for treatment of chemoresistant RB.

Tandem therapy for retinoblastoma: immunotherapy and chemotherapy enhance cytotoxicity on retinoblastoma by increasing apoptosis.

PURPOSE: The goal of this study was to provide an experimental basis for the clinical application of cell immunotherapy on RB in combination with chemotherapy treatment and to explore the mechanism of their combined cytotoxicity. METHODS: We investigated the antitumor effect of cytokine-induced killer cells (CIK), co-cultivated with dendritic cells pulsed with tumor antigens (DC-Ag) and/or with carboplatin. Cytotoxicity was evaluated on a retinoblastoma cell line (RB-Y79) by FCM and immunofluorescence microscopy. Time-lapse video microscopy was used to follow the sequence of events during the carboplatin and CIK cytotoxicity. RESULTS: Our results showed that a small proportion of RB-Y79 cells died after a low-dose carboplatin application. The cell population recovered 5 days after carboplatin was removed from the culture medium. Three times fewer normal epithelium retina cell lines (hTERT-RPE1) died at the same carboplatin dose. CIK achieved 5 times more cytotoxicity against RB cells pre-treated with low dose of carboplatin, showing the highest antitumor activity in the tandem carboplatin-DC-Ag-CIK-carboplatin treatment. Time-lapse video microscopy revealed that carboplatin-preconditioned RB cells are more avidly engaged by CIK cells, increasing RB mortality and resulting in an overall increment in apoptosis. CONCLUSION: This study provides evidence that carboplatin combined with cell immunotherapy is superior to carboplatin alone to kill RB cells in vitro. We propose that a primary application of a low dose of a chemotherapeutic drug that is able to attack the tumor, and a subsequent treatment with highly effective immunotherapy based on DC-Ag-CIK cells could be a safe and selective treatment for RB.