Rehmannia glutinosa polysaccharide induces toll-like receptor 4 dependent spleen dendritic cell maturation and anti-cancer immunity.

Rehmannia glutinosa polysaccharide (RGP) has shown an activation of immune cells in vitro. However, the immune stimulatory effect of RGP in a mouse in vivo is not well studied. In this study, we examined the effect of RGP on dendritic cell (DC) activation and anticancer immunity in vivo. Treatments of RGP in C56BL/6 mice induced increased levels of co-stimulatory molecule expression and pro-inflammatory cytokine production in spleen DCs dependent on toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), and those DCs promoted interferon-gamma (IFNγ) production in CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. RGP also enhanced ovalbumin (OVA) antigen (Ag)-specific immune activation in tumor-bearing mice, including Ag presentation in DCs, OT-I and OT-II T-cell proliferation, migration of OT-I and OT-II T cells into the B16-OVA tumor, OVA-specific IFNγ production, and the specific killing of OVA-coated splenocytes, which consequently inhibited B16-OVA tumor growth dependent on TLR4 and CD8+ T cells. Finally, the combination of RGP and self-Ag treatment efficiently inhibited CT26 carcinoma and B16 melanoma tumor growth in BLAB/c and C57BL/6 mice, respectively. These data demonstrate that RGP could be a useful adjuvant molecule for immunotherapy against cancer.