Aim: To study the antigen specific anti-tumor effect of cytotoxic T lymphocytes(CTLs), which was induced by human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT)-related multiple epitope peptides impulsed myeloid dendritic cells(mDCs), against human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A24(+) tumor cells.
Methods: Four branches of multiple antigen peptides (MAPs) of hTERT epitopes and three separate peptides were solid-phase artificially synthesized, phlebotomize peripheral blood from HLA-A24(+) healthy volunteers, sorted the blood through MACS MicroBeads and cultured mDCs, Nylon fiber column purified T lymphocytes, mDCs impulsed with each type of peptides were co-cultured with T lymphocytes to induce CTLs specifically killing effect, and the resultant CTLs were used as effector cells, SMMC-7721 with hTERT and HLA-A24 positive and SKOV3 which are hTERT-positive but HLA-A24-negative tumor cells were used as target cells. The level of human IL-12, TNF-α in the culture supernatant was determined by ELISA. Flow cytometry assay was used to assess the killing ability of CTLs against tumor cells.
Results: MAPs of hTERT epitopes including I540 (ILAKFLHWL), V461 (VYGFVRACL), L766 (LTDLQPYMRQFVAHL) and three separate peptides could impulse mDCs and then induce CTLs to specifically kill SMMC-7721, CTLs induced by MAPs had stronger cytotoxic effect compared with three separate peptides mixed(P < 0.05).
Conclusion: mDCs-impulsed with hTERT-associated MAPs can induce production and proliferation of allogenic CTLs, which show antigen specific anti-tumor effect against HLA-A24(+) tumor cells. This result has significantly meaning in tumor immunotherapy.