TLR agonist rMBP-NAP inhibits B16 melanoma tumor growth via induction of DCs maturation and T-cells cytotoxic response.

Melanoma is the most aggressive skin cancer with increasing incidence and poor prognosis all over the world. Recent research has found that immunological abnormalities played a key role in the pathogenesis of melanoma. Increased understanding of tumor immune mechanisms has led to attract more attention for the potential of TLR agonists on treatment of melanoma. The present study aimed to determine the potential and efficacy of a novel TLR agonist rMBP-NAP for antitumor treatment in murine model of B16 melanoma. Subcutaneous administration of mice with rMBP-NAP remarkably inhibited tumor growth and tumor inhibitory rate was 77.72%. Additionally, rMBP‑NAP significantly upregulated the number of mature DCs (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the number and activation of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were prominently enhanced following rMBP-NAP stimulation (P < 0.05). Overall, these results demonstrated that rMBP-NAP possessed the potential to be a novel immunomodulatory candidate drug for treating melanoma.