A Polysaccharide From the Whole Plant of Plantago asiatica L. Enhances the Antitumor Activity of Dendritic Cell-Based Immunotherapy Against Breast Cancer.

Jiafeng Gao,Di Zhang,Huihao Xu,Yi-Nan Zhang,Jingwen Cui,Jiatong Zhang,Jiahao Lin,Zhihui Hao,Nan Cheng,Yipeng Jin,Yuexiang Ming,Degui Lin

doi:10.3389/fphar.2021.678865

Jiafeng Gao, Di Zhang + Show 10 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2021.678865

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Abstract

Dendritic cells (DCs) are the most potent professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs) that mediate T-cell immune responses. Breast cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed diseases and its mortality rate is higher than any other cancer in both humans and canines. Plantain polysaccharide (PLP), extracted from the whole plant of Plantago asiatica L., could promote the maturation of DCs. In this research, we found that PLP could upregulate the maturation of DCs both in vitro and in vivo. PLP-activated DCs could stimulate lymphocytes’ proliferation and differentiate naive T cells into cytotoxic T cells. Tumor antigen-specific lymphocyte responses were enhanced by PLP and CIPp canine breast tumor cells lysate-pulsed DCs, and PLP and CIPp-cell-lysate jointly stimulated DCs cocultured with lymphocytes having the great cytotoxicity on CIPp cells. In the 4T1 murine breast tumor model, PLP could control the size of breast tumors and improve immunity by recruiting DCs, macrophages, and CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in the tumor microenvironment. These results indicated that PLP could achieve immunotherapeutic effects and improve immunity in the breast tumor model.

Highlights

Dendritic cells (DCs) act as initiators of the initial immune response and play an important part in the regulation of the immune system
We investigated whether Plantain polysaccharide (PLP) could induce the maturation of mouse myelogenous DCs, and the PLP-activated DCs could stimulate lymphocytes’ proliferation and differentiate naive T cells into cytotoxic T cells, which is associated with cellular immune function
These changes in morphological characteristics suggested that DCs treated with PLP were more liable to convert into mature dendritic cells

Summary

Introduction

Dendritic cells (DCs) act as initiators of the initial immune response and play an important part in the regulation of the immune system. DCs recognize, capture, process, and present antigen to naive T cells, which stimulate the activation and proliferation of naive T cells for adaptive immune responses (Batra et al, 2012). DCs play a crucial role in triggering anticancer T-cell–mediated immunity against cancer cells. It has been confirmed that the number of DCs is closely related to cancer cell infiltration, lymph node metastasis, and prognosis (Steinman and Banchereau 2007; Palucka and Banchereau 2012). As an emerging anticancer therapeutic approach, immunotherapy is designed to harness the patient’s own immune system, in which DCs present the cancer antigens to activate antigen-specific T-cell responses for fighting against the cancer cells

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