Interleukin-4 plus tumor necrosis factor alpha augments the antigenicity of melanoma cells.

Immune cytokines are important regulators of the immune response to neoplastic cells. We previously reported that interleukin 4 (IL-4) and either tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF) or interferon gamma (IFN) synergistically inhibit melanoma cell growth and induce cell differentiation. In the present study we used various combinations of IL-4, IFN and TNF to enhance the antigenicity of melanoma cells. IL-4 plus TNF significantly increased the ability of melanoma cells to stimulate cytotoxic T cells (CTL) and act as targets of these CTL; IL-4 plus IFN was somewhat less effective, while TNF plus IFN was not as effective. IL-4 plus TNF also increased the expression of HLA class I and HLA-DR antigens on melanoma cells. The CTL lines examined in this study were CD3+CD4+ and oligoclonal. These preclinical results suggest that the immune response to melanoma whole-cell vaccines might be enhanced by pretreating vaccine cells with IL-4 plus TNF.