0000000000954301
AUTHOR
Annie Fromentin
FAS(CD95) ligand expression by tumor cell variants can be unrelated to their capacity to induce tolerance or immune rejection.
According to the results of in vitro experiments, Fas(CD95) ligand expression by cancer cells might induce apoptosis of activated T cells and contribute to immune tolerance. However, Fas ligand expression had never been explored in vivo in tumor cell models yielding either immune response or tolerance. In the present study, we analyzed the expression and function of Fas ligand in 2 clones of tumor cells originating from the same rat colon carcinoma. REGb cells were immunogenic and yielded tumors that regressed in immune-competent syngeneic hosts, whereas PROb cells induced active tolerance and yielded progressive tumors. Fas ligand was expressed on the plasma membrane of both REGb and PROb …
Flt3 ligand lessens the growth of tumors obtained after colon cancer cell injection in rats but does not restore tumor-suppressed dendritic cell function
A defective function of the antigen-presenting cells may represent one of the ways used by cancer cells to escape the immune response. We have previously shown that human and rat colon carcinomas were infiltrated by dendritic cells that did not express the B7 co-stimulatory molecules required for inducing an efficient T-cell response. Flt3 ligand is a cloned hematopoietic growth factor that markedly augments the number of functional dendritic and NK cells in lymphoid and non-lymphoid tissues and exerts anti-tumor activity in various experimental models. We show here that repeated Flt3 ligand administration delays the s.c. growth of rat colon cancer cells in syngeneic animals without inducin…