Human Flt3 Ligand from Pichia pastoris inhibits growth of lymphoma and colon adenocarcinoma in mice
Yan-Li Zhang, Yi-Ju Wei, Yan-Chun Deng, Ya-Dong Wang, Chang-Zheng Liu, Lin Su, Ke-Gong Yang, Song-Sen Chen
Potent effects of Flt3 ligand (FL) on the development of the immune system have generated much interest in application of FL in cancer immunotherapy.
Objective: To evaluate the effects of Pichia pastoris secreted rhFL on the growth of mouse EL-4 lymphoma and C26 colon adenocarcinoma injected in syngeneic mice for the first time.
Methods: Mice were placed into one of two treatment groups. 2 x 105 EL-4 or C26 cells were injected subcutaneously (SC.) into mice on day 0. Group 1 received subcutaneous PBS injections from Day -7 to Day 14 and group 2 received subcutaneous rhFL injections at 30 mg/day from Day -7 to Day 14. Serial tumor areas were measured. On Day 22, mice from each group were sacrificed, and weight of tumors and spleens were evaluated. Data analysis used Student t tests. Results: Pichia pastoris secreted rhFL resulted in tumor growth delay for both EL-4 lymphoma and C26 colon adenocarcinoma compared with control (P <0.01). Tumors from rhFL-treated mice were smaller (P < 0.01) than controls while spleens larger (P < 0.01) than controls. Histological examination of tumor sections revealed an obvious increase in regions composed largely of infiltrating cells in the rhFL-treated tumors. Infiltrating cells could be detected in clusters among tumors from mice treated with rhFL whereas these cells were only occasionally detected in sections of control tumors.
Conclusion: treatment of rhFL expressed from Pichia pastoris resulted in an antitumor response against EL-4 and C26 tumors injected in syngeneic mice.