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1 Department of Pharmaco-Biology, University of Calabria, Rende; 2 Vita-Salute University and DIBIT H San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan; 3 Department of Preclinical Sciences, LITA Vialba, L. Sacco Hospital, University of Milano, Milan; and 4 E. Medea Scientific Institute, Bosisio Parini, Italy
| ABSTRACT |
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| Introduction |
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A candidate molecule to improve DC ability to withstand the toxic tumor environment is nitric oxide (NO). Physiological concentrations of NO exert antiapoptotic effects in many cells (13) . All of the specific events mediating tumor-induced apoptosis of DCs, including activation of caspases, reduction of the mitochondrial membrane potential and of the expression/activity of antiapoptotic Bcl-2, and increased expression of proapoptotic Bax (4 , 5 , 10 , 14) , were shown to be targets of NO, although in other cell types (13 , 15) . In addition, NO increases DC cytotoxic, endocytic, and antigen-presenting functions (16, 17, 18) .
In this study we show that the treatment ex vivo of DCs with a pulse of the NO donor (z)-1-[2-(2-aminoethyl)-N-(2-ammonioethyl)amino]diazen-1-ium-1,2-diolate (DETA-NO) before delivery within a s.c.-growing B16 mouse melanoma confers persistent antitumor action to DCs. We also provide the mechanisms responsible for the effect of NO.
| Materials and Methods |
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Cells.
B16-F1 (H-2b) melanoma cells were cultured as described previously (14)
. The culture-conditioned medium (B16SN) was prepared by culturing 1 x 106 cells in 20 ml of medium for 4 days and was used at a final concentration of 20% (14)
.
DCs were obtained from mouse bone marrow precursors, cultured as described previously (19)
. DCs were characterized by flow cytometry measuring plasma membrane expression of MHC class I and II, CD11c, CD80, CD83, and CD86 (17)
. The purity of DCs was in all experiments no less than 80%. The remaining CD11c-negative cells mostly comprised macrophages and lymphocytes. cGMP concentrations were measured by a radioimmunoassay (18)
in samples (1 x 106 cells in 0.5 mM phosphodiesterase inhibitor 3-isobutyl-1-methyl xanthine) treated for 30 min with or without DETA-NO in the presence or absence of H-(1,2,4)-oxadiazolo[4,3-
]quinoxalin-1-one (ODQ; both from Alexis Italia, Florence, Italy; Ref. 18
).
Intratumoral DC Injection.
C57BL/6 mice (five animals/group) received 1 x 105 B16-F1 cells, i.e., 10-fold the minimum tumorigenic dose (19)
, s.c. in the lower right flank on day 0 (19)
. Tumors reached the appropriate size (
10 mm2) after 6 days. DCs (1 x 106) or vehicle (PBS) were injected in the tumors on day 6, 12, 18, and 24, and tumor growth was monitored. Mice were sacrificed when theirs tumors reached 15 mm in size on either diameter. Mice received injections of vehicle; untreated DCs, DETA-NO-treated DCs, 8-Br-cGMP-treated DCs, and DCs treated with DETA-NO and ODQ. Treatments of DCs were for 2 h, and the compounds were removed by washing before injection. To reveal injected DCs at tumor sites, we labeled the DCs with fluorescent dye the 5-chloromethylfluorescein (CMFDA; 2 µM; Molecular Probes, Leiden, the Netherlands) for 30 min at 37°C (19)
. Tumors were collected 24 and 72 h after DC injection. Single-cell suspensions (19)
were labeled with a phycoerythrin-conjugated anti-CD11c monoclonal antibody and analyzed by flow cytometry.
Measurements of Apoptosis.
The mitochondrial membrane potential and DNA content were analyzed by flow cytometry in DCs (1 x 106 cells/sample) stained with the potential-sensitive fluorescent dye tetramethylrhodamine ethyl ester (500 nM; Molecular Probes; Ref. 20
) or propidium iodide (50 µg/ml in permeabilized DCs; Ref. 15
), respectively. We assessed caspase-9 activity in DC lysates as described previously (15)
, measuring the cleavage of the fluorogenic caspase-9 substrate Ac-LEHD-7 amino-4-trifluoromethyl coumarin with a Perkin-Elmer LS50 fluorometer. Western blot analyses were carried out on 50 µg of DC lysates (17)
. Relevant bands were immunolabeled with rabbit polyclonal primary antibodies specific for either Bcl-xL or Bax (Cell Signaling Technology, Beverly, CA) or mouse monoclonal antibodies recognizing Bcl-2 (Upstate Biotechnology, Lake Placid, NY), followed by incubation with horseradish peroxidase-conjugated goat polyclonal antirabbit or antimouse IgGs (Transduction Laboratories, Lexington, KY). Immunoreactive bands were visualized by the enhanced chemiluminescence procedure and quantified by microdensitometry using a Molecular Dynamics Imagequant apparatus (17)
.
Measurements of DC Functions.
For mixed-lymphocyte reactions, DCs from C57BL/6 mice were irradiated (2500 rad) and cocultured at different ratios with spleen-derived BALB/c lymphocytes (105 cells/well; Ref. 14
). Incorporation of methyl-[3H]thymidine by T cells was evaluated at day 5 (18)
. Cytotoxic activity of DCs was assessed by measuring the specific 51Cr release in a standard assay in which serial dilutions of DCs were mixed with 3000 51Cr-labeled B16-F1 cells or syngeneic splenocytes (19)
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All solutions used were endotoxin free as determined by the Limulus test (PBI, Milan, Italy).
Statistical Analysis.
All results are expressed as means ± SE, and n represents the number of individual experiments. Statistical analyses were performed with Students t test and the log-rank statistic. All data were considered statistically significant at P < 0.05. In the figure panels, *, **, and *** indicate P < 0.05, P < 0.01, and P <0.001, respectively.
| Results |
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All NO effects were mimicked by 8-Br-cGMP and prevented by ODQ, indicating that NO acts through cGMP. Indeed, treatment with DETA-NO increased generation of cGMP. Values measured in the first 30 min were 4.39 ± 0.11, 0.55 ± 0.07, and 0.69 ± 0.08 pmol/mg/min in DETA-NO-treated DCs, controls, and DETA-NO- plus ODQ-treated DCs, respectively (P < 0.001 in DETA-NO-treated cells versus control; n = 4). The rate of cGMP generation did not change significantly with time up to 2 h (not shown).
NO Protects DCs from Apoptosis Induced by B16-F1 Cells in a cGMP-Dependent Manner.
DC apoptosis is induced by tumor cells through the paracrine release of as yet unidentified factors (4
, 10
, 14)
. DCs cultured for 48 h in the presence of B16SN died via apoptosis, as demonstrated by the appearance of a hypodiploid DNA peak and by the decrease in the mitochondrial membrane potential (Fig. 2A)
. Treatment with DETA-NO resulted in significant (P < 0.001; n = 8) protection of DCs, an action mimicked by 8-Br-cGMP and prevented when the NO donor was administered together with ODQ (Fig. 2A)
. In the absence of tumors, none of the treatments affected DC viability (not shown). These results indicate that NO protects DCs from B16SN-induced apoptosis in a cGMP-dependent manner.
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Upstream of caspase-9, altered expression of Bax, Bcl-xL, and Bcl-2 has been implicated in tumor-induced apoptosis of DCs (5
, 10
, 11
, 14)
. Consistently, exposure of DCs for 48 h to B16SN resulted in increased expression of Bax and reduced expression of Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL (Fig. 2C)
. Treatment of DCs with DETA-NO reversed the effects of B16SN on expression of Bax, Bcl-2, and Bcl-xL (by 89 ± 4.9, 87 ± 2.5, and 97 ± 3.4%, respectively; P < 0.001 in DETA-NO-treated cells versus control; n = 5). The effects of DETA-NO were mimicked by 8-Br-cGMP and prevented by ODQ (Fig. 2C)
. DETA-NO, 8-Br-cGMP, and ODQ had no effect on Bcl-2, Bax, and Bcl-xL expression levels when administered alone (not shown).
NO/cGMP Restores Mixed-Lymphocyte Reaction and Cytotoxic Functions of DCs Exposed to B16SN.
DCs exert a direct cytotoxic effect against tumor cells (16
, 21) . DCs exposed for 16 h to B16SN displayed significantly reduced cytotoxicity against B16-F1 cells (Fig. 3A)
. DETA-NO restored DC cytotoxic activity. DCs did not kill syngeneic splenocytes used as controls (not shown). DCs exposed to tumors stimulate T-cell proliferation less efficiently (3
, 14)
. Indeed, DCs incubated for 16 h with B16SN showed a reduced capacity to stimulate T cells in a mixed-lymphocyte reaction assay (Fig. 3B)
. DC treatment with DETA-NO rescued the phenotype. The effects of NO on both DC cytotoxic activity and their ability to activate T cells were cGMP dependent because they were mimicked by 8-Br-cGMP and were prevented when DETA-NO was added together with ODQ.
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| Discussion |
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The antitumor action of NO/cGMP was associated with an increased persistence of DCs in the tumor. This suggests that in vivo DCs were protected against tumor-induced apoptosis. This conclusion is supported by in vitro experiments showing that a brief pulse with NO increases DCs resistance to the apoptogenic effects of the tumor environment. NO inhibited the tumor-induced reduction of the mitochondrial membrane potential and activation of caspase-9 and restored the expression levels of Bcl-2, Bax, and Bcl-xL, which are altered in tumor-exposed DCs (4 , 5 , 10 , 11 , 14) . This, together with the observation that the NO action persists after its removal, strongly suggests that NO switches off the entire apoptotic program triggered by tumors in DCs rather than acting as a simple negative modulator of selected apoptotic signals. This explains the efficacy and the persistence of the protective action of NO. We found two additional effects of NO that might contribute to its antitumor effect. NO prevented the tumor-induced impairment of both DC cytotoxic activity and the ability of DCs to stimulate T-cell proliferation. Of importance, all of the in vitro effects of NO were found to depend on generation of cGMP, consistent with the cGMP dependence of its effects in vivo.
The treatment of DCs we propose does not require extensive cell manipulation, is not toxic, and appears worth pursuing in view of the new NO donors and compounds able to increase cGMP concentration undergoing validation for clinical use at present (22) . Because of its simplicity, the treatment might be easily combined with other strategies to yield an enhanced therapeutic effect combining increased DC survival and efficacy in eliciting antitumor immune responses.
| FOOTNOTES |
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The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
Requests for reprints: Emilio Clementi, DIBIT-H San Raffaele Institute, via Olgettina 58, 20132 Milano, Italy. Phone: 39 02 2643 4807; Fax: 39 02 2643 4813; E-mail: clementi.emilio{at}hsr.it
Received 2/24/04. Revised 4/ 5/04. Accepted 4/20/04.
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