Preliminary research on dendritic cells loaded with resistant breast cancer antigens in breast cancer-bearing nude mice ⁎

Abstract

Abstract Objective The aim of the study was to investigate the inhibitory effects of dendritic cells (DCs) loaded with resistant breast cancer antigens on breast cancer in nude mice. Methods A single-cell suspension was prepared from a primary breast cancer and chemotherapeutic drugs were screened using the ATP-PCA susceptibility testing system. Cancer cells were treated with 1/10 × IC50, 1/5 × IC50, 1/2 × IC50, 1 × IC50, and 2 × IC50 medium until their growth became steady in the 2 × IC50 medium. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were obtained from the peripheral blood of patients with leukapheresis. The obtained adherent cells were induced by granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and interleukin-4 (IL-4) to generate DCs, which carried resistant strain cell lysis compounds or non-treated cancer cell lysis compounds. The former mature DCs carried resistant breast tumor antigens. A breast tumor-bearing nude mouse model was established with these resistant strains and the mice were randomly divided in three groups. The mice in the treatment group were injected with DCs loaded with resistant breast cancer antigens. The control group consisted of mice injected with DCs loaded with primary tumor cell antigens and the blank group consisted of mice injected with the same volume of normal saline. Changes in the cancers were observed. Results After treatment with the effector cells, the cancer volume and weight were significantly different to those before treatment in every group of mice (P < 0.05). The tumor volume in the blank group was the largest (3.362 ± 0.068 cm3) and the tumor weight was 637.50 ± 59.398 mg. Compared to the blank group, the tumor volume in the experimental group was the smallest (1.273 ± 0.071 cm3) and the tumor weight was 206.81 ± 32.711 mg. Conclusion DCs loaded with resistant breast cancer antigens demonstrated a significant inhibition effect on the cancers of breast tumor-bearing nude mice.