Regulation of tumor growth and metastasis by interleukin-10: the melanoma experience.

Because interleukin-10 (IL-10) has potent immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory properties and is produced by some cancers, including melanoma, we hypothesized that its production by tumor cells may contribute to the escape from immune surveillance. To test this hypothesis, we transfected human A375P melanoma cells that do not express IL-10 with the murine IL-10 gene and subsequently analyzed for changes in tumor growth and metastasis in nude mice. Surprisingly, IL-10 gene transfer resulted in a loss of metastasis and significant inhibition of tumor growth. In addition, the growth of other murine or human melanoma cells was also inhibited when they were admixed with IL-10-transfected cells before injection into nude mice. We provide evidence that IL-10 exerts its antitumor and antimetastatic activity by inhibiting angiogenesis in vivo. The in vivo decrease in neovascularization found in IL-10-secreting tumors is most likely due to the ability of IL-10 to downregulate the synthesis of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), IL-6, and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) in tumor-associated macrophages. Other studies have shown that IL-10 inhibits tumor metastasis through a natural killer (NK) cell-dependent mechanism. The inhibitory effects of IL-10 on tumor growth and metastasis were also demonstrated in other tumor models, including breast cancers. Furthermore, administration of rIL-10 into mice resulted in inhibition of tumor metastasis. Because IL-10 has little toxicity when given systemically to human volunteers, its efficacy as an antimetastatic agent should be further explored, both as an independent and in combination with other inhibitors of neovascularization.