Original scientific paper
Analysis of CD137 and CD137L Expression in Human Primary Tumor Tissues
Qun Wang
; Department of Immunology, Shandong University School of Medicine, Jinan, China
Pin Zhang
; Department of Immunology, Shandong University School of Medicine, Jinan, China
Qixia Zhang
; Department of Immunology, Shandong University School of Medicine, Jinan, China
Xiaoyan Wang
; Department of Immunology, Shandong University School of Medicine, Jinan, China
Jianfeng Li
; Central Laboratory, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Jinan, China
Chunhong Ma
; Department of Immunology, Shandong University School of Medicine, Jinan, China
Wensheng Sun
; Department of Immunology, Shandong University School of Medicine, Jinan, China
Lining Zhang
; Department of Immunology, Shandong University School of Medicine, Jinan, China
Abstract
Aim To assess the expression of CD137 and CD137L in human primary
tumor tissues and their potential role in tumor immunity.
Methods Expression of CD137 and CD137L was assessed by immunohistochemistry
in frozen sections of 12 human normal tissues,
15 benign tumors of epithelial or mesenchymal origin (adenoma and
leiomyoma), and 36 malignant tumors of epithelial origin (squamous
cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma). The expression of CD137L on
9 human tumor cell lines (3 hepatocarcinoma, 2 lung carcinoma, 2
colon carcinoma, 1 lymphoma, and 1 leukemia) was detected by reverse
transcription polymerase chain reaction. To analyze the role of
CD137L expressed on tumor cells, we co-cultured tumor cells expressing
CD137L with activated T lymphocytes expressing CD137 or with
Chinese hamster ovary cells expressing CD137 and then detected by
ELISA the levels of cytokines (IL-8, IFN-γ) secreted by tumor cells or
activated T cells.
Results The expression of CD137 and CD137L was observed only in
human benign (2/15, 3/15) or malignant tumors (15/36, 21/36), but
not in normal tissues (0/12, 0/12). CD137 was expressed on the vessel
walls within tumor tissues, whereas CD137L was expressed on tumor
cells. The expression of CD137 and CD137L was more common in
malignant tumors, especially in moderate or low-differentiated tumors.
Furthermore, CD137L expression found on tumor cell lines was functional
because the ligation of CD137L on lung squamous carcinoma
cells L78 with CD137 on T cells induced IFN-γ production by T cells,
and ligation of CD137L on hepatocarcinoma cells HepG2.2.15 with
CD137 triggered tumor cells to produce IL-8.
Conclusion CD137 and CD137L are expressed in different human
primary tumor tissues, suggesting that they may influence the progression
of tumors.
Keywords
CD137; CD137L; Tumor; Immunohistochemistry; ELISA
Hrčak ID:
26109
URI
Publication date:
15.4.2008.
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