Photodynamic therapy cures green fluorescent protein expressing RIF1 tumors in mice

Abstract

Cancer is a leading cause of death among modern people, largely due to metastatic disease. The ideal cancer treatment should destroy both the primary tumor and distant metastases with minimal toxicity to normal tissue. This is best accomplished by educating the body's immune system to recognize the tumor as foreign so that after the primary tumor is destroyed, distant metastases will also be eradicated. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) involves the IV administration of photosensitizers followed by illumination of the tumor with red light producing reactive oxygen species that eventually cause vascular shutdown and tumor cell apoptosis. Anti-tumor immunity is stimulated after PDT due to the acute inflammatory response, generation of tumor-specific antigens, and induction of heat-shock proteins. Combination regimens are likely to emerge in the future to even further enhance immunity. Green fluorescent protein is used as an optical reporter to non-invasively image the progression of mouse tumors, and in addition, may act as a foreign (jellyfish) antigen. We asked whether the response of tumor bearing mice to PDT differed when a non-immunogenic tumor cell line was transfected with GFP? We injected RIF-1 or RIF1-EGFP cells in the leg of C3H/HeN mice and both the cells and tumors grew equally well. We used two PDT protocols (benzoporphyrin derivative (BPD) with 15-minute interval or Photofrin with 24-hour interval). The results showed significant differences between the responses of RIF1 or RIF1-EGFP tumors after BPD or Photofrin PDT and complete cures and mouse survival when RIF-1 EGFP tumors were treated with BPD. This increased tumor response may be due to antibody-mediated cytotoxicity and the presence of an artificial tumor antigen (GFP) that can produce a CD8 T-cell response against the whole tumor. The presence of antibodies against EGFP in mouse serum correlates with the hypothesis.