Soluble CD40 ligand inhibits the growth of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma cells through the JNK signaling pathway

The incidence of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) has been increasing annually and has become a serious threat to human health. However, the pathogenesis of NHL remains unclear. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L) on NHL cells and its underlying mechanism. Cell Counting kit-8 assay and flow cytometry apoptosis experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of sCD40L on cell proliferation and apoptosis. Western blotting was performed to detect the protein expression levels of BAX, Bcl-2, ERK, p-ERK, JNK, p-JNK, p38, p-p38 and c-JUN. The results of the present study demonstrated that exogenous sCD40L significantly inhibited the proliferation and promoted the apoptosis of Raji and CA46 cells. Additionally, exogenous sCD40L promoted the apoptosis of lymphoma cells by activating the JNK signaling pathway.

The potentials of immune checkpoints for the treatment of blood malignancies

Immune checkpoints are the regulators of the immune system, which include stimulatory and inhibitory receptors. They play substantial roles in the maintenance of immune system homeostasis and the prevention of autoimmunity and cancer. In the current review, immune checkpoints roles are surveyed in the initiation, progression, and treatment of blood malignancies. The significant roles of immune checkpoints are discussed as clinical markers in the diagnosis and prognosis of a plethora of blood malignancies and also as potential targets for the treatment of these malignancies. It could be concluded that the regulation of immune checkpoints in various blood cancers can be employed as a novel strategy to obtain effective results in leukemia treatment and introduce immune checkpoint inhibitors as sufficient weapons against blood cancers in the future.

Induction of Apoptosis in Cancer Cells of pre-B ALL Patients after Exposure to Platelets, Platelet-Derived Microparticles and Soluble CD40 Ligand

Objective

The in vitro treatment of tumor cells with platelet (Plt) causes inhibition of tumor cell growth, although mechanism of this effect is not clear yet. Induction of apoptosis has been proposed as a mechanism of Plt effects on tumor cells. The purpose of this study was to clarify the role of Plts and Plt-derived components in the induction of apoptosis in the blood mononuclear cells of patients with leukemia.

Materials and Methods

In this experimental study, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from whole blood of five patients with childhood B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (pre-B ALL) and encountered with Plts, Plt-derived microparticles (Plt-MPs) as well as purified soluble CD40L (sCD40L). After 48 hours of co-culture, the anti-cancer activity of the aforementioned factors was surveyed using examination of apoptosis markers of the cells including active caspase-3 and CD95 using ELISA and flow cytometer techniques, respectively. Additionally, staining of the cells with 7-Aminoactinomycin D (7-AAD) was evaluated by flow cytometer technique. Trypan blue exclusion test and WST-1 method were also used to compare the death/survival status of the cells.

Results

Levels of CD95 and caspase-3 were significantly increased in the all treated groups (P<0.05). On the other hand, trypan blue, 7-AAD and WST-1 methods showed significantly lower number of the live cells in the treated groups (P<0.05).

Conclusion

This study can show the ability of Plts, Plt-MPs and sCD40L for the induction of apoptosis in PBMCs of pre-B-ALL patients. Further studies are necessary to elucidate the different effects of platelets on cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.

Optimization and evaluation of Oridonin-loaded Soluplus®-Pluronic P105 mixed micelles for oral administration

In this study, a new type of mixed micelles was developed using Soluplus^® (SOL) and Pluronic^® P105 (P105) for the encapsulation of Oridonin (ORN). Oridonin-loaded micelles (ORN-M) were simply prepared using solvent evaporation and characterized for particle size, particle morphology, encapsulation efficiency, and drug loading. In addition, the in vitro drug release behavior of ORN-M was assessed using the widely applied dialysis bag technique. The pharmacokinetic property of ORN was explored in rats after oral administration of ORN-M. Optimized ORN-M were of a small size (137.2±1.65nm) and spherical shape when the ratio of SOL:P105 was 3:1, with entrapment efficiency 90.48±1.85% and drug loading 15.08±0.38%. Oral absorption capacity of ORN was greatly enhanced with a relative bioavailability of 210.55% in comparison to that of in-house suspensions, which suggests that ORN-M shows significantly improved bioavailability and drug absorption characteristics. Overall, the optimized SOL-P105 dual mixed micelles show great potential for use as oral drug carriers for cancer treatment.

Soluble CD40 ligands sensitize the epithelial ovarian cancer cells to cisplatin treatment

OBJECTIVE

CD154 (CD40L) is a protein that is primarily expressed on activated T cells and is a member of the TNF superfamily of molecules. It binds to CD40 on antigen-presenting cells (APC), which leads to many effects depending on the target cell type. Being an activator of immune cells, CD40L has also been shown to directly induce apoptosis in tumor cells by multiple mechanisms. To understand the role of sCD40L in regulating the proliferation of epithelial ovarian cancer cells treated or untreated with cisplatin.

METHODS

Epithelial ovarian cancer cells: SKOV3 and its cisplatin-resistant strain SKOV3/DDP cells were used to test the effect of sCD40L and cisplatin. The proliferation of SKOV3 and SKOV3/DDP cells were measured by MTT. Cell cycle was assessed by flow cytometry. The mRNA expressions of targeted genes were detected by qRT-PCR. The protein expressions were detected by Western blotting.

RESULTS

sCD40L showed a significant dose-dependence inhibitory effect on the proliferation of ovarian cancer cell lines. sCD40L in combination with cisplatin could sensitized SKOV3/DDP cells to cisplatin treatment and reversed the drug resistance of SKOV3/DDP cells. The reversal ratios of 1 μg/ml sCD40L combined with cisplatin in SKOV3 and SKOV3/DDP cells were 2.11, 2.71, while the reversal ratios of 2 μg/ml sCD40L combined with cisplatin in SKOV3 and SKOV3/DDP cells were 3.78, 5.20, respectively. sCD40L or sCD40L combined cisplatin increased tumor cells in G0/G1 phase. sCD40L in combination with cisplatin decreased the expression levels of GST-π, LRP, Survivin, p53 and Bcl-2 in both epithelial ovarian cancer cell lines. The protein expression level of GST-π, LRP and P53 protein was also decreased upon sCD40L in combination with cisplatin although the expression level of Bcl-2 and survivin protein had no significant difference.

CONCLUSION

sCD40L inhibits the proliferation of SKOV3 and SKOV3/DDP cells. The combined application of sCD40L and cisplatin can strength the inhibitory effect of cisplatin, and to a certain extent, reversing the resistance to cisplatin in SKOV3/DDP cells. sCD40L could lead a cell block in G0/G1 phase and make the cell growth restrained. sCD40L could induce SKOV3 and SKOV3/DDP cells apoptosis and reverse drug resistance through cutting GST-π mRNA, LRP mRNA, survivin mRNA, p53 mRNA and Bcl-2 mRNA and decreasing the expression of GST-π, LRP and P53 protein in SKOV3 and SKOV3/DDP cells, which provides in-vivo experiment basis to the application of sCD40L as a drug improving ovarian cancer cells sensitivity to cisplatin.

A multimerized form of recombinant human CD40 ligand supports long-term activation and proliferation of B cells

BACKGROUND AIMS

CD40-activated B cells have long been studied as potent antigen-presenting cells that can potentially be used for cancer immunotherapy. Nevertheless, their use in human clinical trials has been limited by the lack of a Good Manufacturing Practice-grade soluble human CD40 ligand that is able to induce activation and proliferation of primary B cells. We describe an in vitro method to effectively generate and expand B cells through the use of a multimerized form of human recombinant CD40 ligand (rCD40L).

METHODS

Human B cells were isolated from healthy donors and cultivated with either rCD40L or on a monolayer of murine NIH3T3 cells stably expressing human CD40L (NIH3T3/tCD40L) as a widely used standard method. Morphology, expansion rate, immune phenotype and antigen presentation function were assessed.

RESULTS

B cells efficiently proliferated in response to rCD40L over 14 days of culture in comparable amounts to NIH3T3/tCD40L. B-cell division in response to CD40L was also confirmed by carboxyfluorescein succinimidyl ester dilution. Moreover, rCD40L induced on B cells upregulation of co-stimulatory molecules essential for antigen presentation. Additionally, proliferation of T cells from allogeneic healthy volunteers confirmed the immunostimulatory capacities of CD40-activated B cells.

CONCLUSIONS

We demonstrated that B cells with potent antigen presentation capacity can be generated and expanded by use of a non-xenogeneic form of CD40L that could be implemented in future human clinical settings.

Anti-CD40-mediated cancer immunotherapy: an update of recent and ongoing clinical trials

The costimulatory molecule CD40 is a member of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor superfamily and is expressed on various antigen presenting cells (APCs) as well as some tumor cells. The binding to the natural ligand CD40L, which is expressed on T helper cells, leads to APC activation and thus enhancement of immune responses. Treatment with anti-CD40 monoclonal antibodies has been exploited in several cancer immunotherapy studies in mice and led to the development of anti-CD40 antibodies for clinical use. Here, Dacetuzumab and Lucatumumab are in the most advanced stage and are being tested as treatment for malignancies such as chronic lymphatic leukemia (CLL), Multiple Myeloma (MM), and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). The promising results from these early clinical trials have encouraged clinical drug development in order to investigate the effect of CD40 mAbs in combination with other cancer immunotherapies, in particular interleukin (IL)-2. An in-depth analysis of this immunotherapy is provided elsewhere. In the present review, we provide an update of the most recent clinical trials with anti-CD40 antibodies. We present and discuss recent and ongoing clinical trials in this field, including clinical studies which combine anti-CD40 treatment with other cancer-treatments, such as Rituximab and Tremelimumab.