Human ovarian cancer stem-like cells can be efficiently killed by γδ T lymphocytes.

Abstract

Ovarian cancer comprises a small population of cancer stem cells (CSCs) that are responsible for tumor maintenance and resistant to cancer therapies, it would be desirable to develop a therapy that could selectively target ovarian CSCs. Recently, cellular immune-based therapies have improved the prognosis of cancer patients clinically. In this study, we isolated a subset of ovarian cancer sphere cells that possess CSC properties and explored the cell cytotoxicity of γδ T cells to ovarian cancer sphere cells using a transwell cocultured cell system. The proliferation rate of the cancer sphere cells decreased to 40% after cocultured with γδ T cells. The γδ T cells increased the sensitivity of SK-OV-3 sphere cells to chemotherapeutic drugs. After the treatment of γδ T cells, the expression of stem cell marker genes decreased in sphere cells, while the expression of HLA-DR antigen on tumor cells was increased in a time-dependent manner. Further, γδ T cells induced G2/M phase cell cycle arrest and subsequent apoptosis in SK-OV-3 sphere cells. Xenograft mouse models demonstrated that γδ T cells dramatically reduced the tumor burden. Notably, the level of IL-17 production significantly increased after cocultured with γδ T cells. We conclude that γδ T cells may efficiently kill ovarian CSCs through IL-17 production and represent a promising immunotherapy for ovarian cancer.