Cancers, Vol. 11, Pages 1597: Cold Atmospheric Plasma-Treated PBS Eliminates Immunosuppressive Pancreatic Stellate Cells and Induces Immunogenic Cell Death of Pancreatic Cancer Cells

In this study, we investigated the cytotoxicity of plasma-treated phosphate-buffered saline (pPBS) using three PSC lines and four PCC lines and examined the immunogenicity of the induced cell death. We observed a decrease in the viability of PSC and PCC after pPBS treatment, with a higher efficacy in the latter. Two PCC lines expressed and released damage-associated molecular patterns characteristic of the induction of immunogenic cell death (ICD). In addition, pPBS-treated PCC were highly phagocytosed by dendritic cells (DCs), resulting in the maturation of DC. This indicates the high potential of pPBS to trigger ICD. In contrast, pPBS induced no ICD in PSC. In general, pPBS treatment of PCCs and PSCs created a more immunostimulatory secretion profile (higher TNF-α and IFN-γ, lower TGF-β) in coculture with DC. Altogether, these data show that plasma treatment via pPBS has the potential to induce ICD in PCCs and to reduce the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment created by PSCs. Therefore, these data provide a strong experimental basis for further in vivo validation, which might potentially open the way for more successful combination strategies with immunotherapy for PDAC.

Source: Cancers - October 18, 2019 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Jinthe Van Loenhout Tal Flieswasser Laurie Freire Boullosa Jorrit De Waele Jonas Van Audenaerde Elly Marcq Julie Jacobs Abraham Lin Eva Lion Heleen Dewitte Marc Peeters Sylvia Dewilde Filip Lardon Annemie Bogaerts Christophe Deben Evelien Smits Tags: Article Source Type: research