Umbilical cord blood-derived dendritic cells infected by adenovirus for SP17 expression induce antigen-specific cytotoxic T cells against NSCLC cells.

Sperm protein 17 (SP17), a cancer/testis antigen, is expressed by non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This study examined whether dendritic cells (DC) from human umbilical cord blood (UCB) could be induced for SP17 expression and induce antigen-specific CD8(+) cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) against NSCLC in vitro. We generated recombinant adenovirus of Ad-SP17 and control Ad-null. Infection with Ad-SP17, but not control, induced higher levels of SP17 expression in UCB-derived DC-Ad-SP17. Infection with Ad-SP17 significantly increased the frequency of CD80(+), CD83(+), CD86(+), and HLA-DR(+) DC that produced higher levels of IL-12, but lower IL-10. Co-culture of DC-Ad-SP17 with autologous UCB lymphocytes induced high frequency of IFNγ(+) CD8(+) CTLs, which had selective cytotoxicity against SP17(+) lung cancer CRL-5922 cells in a HLA-I restrictive manner. Thus, UCB-derived DC modulated for SP17 expression induced antigen-specific anti-tumor immunity against SP17(+) NSCLC, and SP17 may be a valuable target for development of immunotherapy against SP17(+) NSCLC.