EFFECT OF ARTIFICIAL MITOCHONDRIAL TRANSFER FROM LINE CELLULAR HSC-3 TO LYMPHOCYTE TCD4+, AS A MECHANISM INDUCTOR OF EXHAUSTED PHENOTYPE.

Abstract

Abstract Background: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most frequent type of oral cancer. The tumor microenvironment of OSCC induces an alteration of the T lymphocyte, promoting an exhausted phenotype. The main organelle of metabolism is the mitochondrion and in recent years it has been indicated that several cells have the capacity to transfer mitochondria, including cancer cells. However, it has not been evaluated whether mitochondria transfer from cancer cells to T lymphocytes induces an exhausted phenotype in T lymphocyte. The aim of this work was to analyze the exhausted phenotype in TCD4+ lymphocytes after artificial transfer of mitochondria (MitoCeption) obtained from the oral cancer cell line HSC-3. Methods: Isolated MitoTracker-labeled mitochondria from oral cancer tumor cells were Mitocepted into CD4+ T lymphocytes. Then, surface molecule expression, proliferation and cytokine secretion mediated by tumor mitochondrial transfer were analyzed by flow cytometry. Results: The results showed that TCD4+ lymphocytes that acquired mitochondria had increased expression of 2 inhibitory proteins (TIGIT and CTLA4) and 3 proteins associated with exhausted phenotype (PD-1, PLD-1 and LAG3), compared to the control group. In addition, the mitocepted lymphocytes exhibited a significant decrease in proliferation compared to the control. For cytokine analysis, a significant decrease was observed in the mitocepted group in the secretion of IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha, IL-10 and IL-4, but not IL-17, compared to the control. Conclusions: Therefore, we concluded that the acquisition of isolated mitochondria from HSC-3 cancer cells by CD4+ T lymphocyte induces an exhausted phenotype in the TCD4+ lymphocyte. Regular Fondecyt Project 1211480