Tumour microenvironment of both early- and late-stage colorectal cancer is equally immunosuppressive

A. O'Toole, A. J. Michielsen, B. Nolan, M. Tosetto, K. Sheahan, H. E. Mulcahy, D. C. Winter, J. M. Hyland, P. R. O'Connell, D. Fennelly, D. O'Donoghue, J. O'Sullivan, G. A. Doherty, E. J. Ryan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Background: Tumour microenvironment (TME) of advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) suppresses dendritic cell (DC) maturation. Here, our aim was to determine how the microenvironment of early-stage tumours influences DCs. Methods: Tumour-conditioned media (TCM) was generated by culturing explant tumour tissue in vitro (n=50). Monocyte-derived DCs (MDDCs) of healthy donors or cancer patients were pretreated with TCM and stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). DC maturation was assessed by flow cytometry and cytokine production measured by ELISA. Results: TCM from both early- and late-staged tumours abrogated LPS-induction of IL-12p70 secretion, while increasing IL-10. The profile of inflammatory mediators in TCM was similar across stages, and all increased pSTAT3 expression by DCs.CRC patient DCs (n=31) secreted low levels of IL-12p70 and failed to upregulate expression of maturation markers in response to LPS. Furthermore, in vitro culture of autologous DCs with TCM did not change the hypo-responsiveness of patient DCs.Conclusion:Our data demonstrates that the TME of all stages of CRC contains inflammatory mediators capable of suppressing local DCs. MDDCs obtained from CRC patients are hyporesponsive to stimuli such as LPS. Measures to reverse the negative influence of the TME on DCs will optimise cancer vaccines in both early- and late-stage CRC.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)927-932
Number of pages6
JournalBritish Journal of Cancer
Volume111
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • colorectal cancer progression
  • IL-12p70
  • STAT3
  • tumour microenvironment

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