Dendritic cells (DCs) have shown promise for use in cancer vaccine and cancer immunotherapy studies. However, we demonstrate that cancer cell lines can negatively interfere with DC generation in granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF)-derived cultures, although cancer cells are able to enhance CD80 cell surface activation marker and cytokine secretion. Furthermore, in the presence of cancer cells, GM-CSF-derived DCs are unable to stimulate T-cells. Additional stimulation with toll-like receptor 4 cannot fully reverse the suppressive effect of cancer cells or supernatant. Hence, it is imperative to understand the immunosuppressive effects of cancer on DCs in order for DC-based cancer immunotherapy to be successful.
Keywords: GM-CSF; cytokines; dendritic cells; early dendritic cells.
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