Safety and Efficacy of Transplantation with Allogeneic Skin Tumors to Treat Chemically-Induced Skin Tumors in Mice

摘要

BACKGROUND Transplantation with allogeneic cells has become a promising modality for cancer therapy, which can induce graft-versus-tumor (GVT) effect. This study was aimed at assessing the safety, efficacy, and tissue type GVT (tGVT) response of transplantation with allogeneic skin tumors to treat chemically-induced skin tumors in mice. MATERIAL AND METHODS FVB/N and ICR mice were exposed topically to chemicals to induce skin tumors. Healthy ICR mice were transplanted with allogeneic skin tumors from FVB/N mice to test the safety. The tumor-bearing ICR mice were transplanted with, or without, allogeneic skin tumors to test the efficacy. The body weights (BW), body condition scores (BCS), tumor volumes [i]in situ[/i], metastasis tumors, overall survival, and serum cytokines were measured longitudinally. RESULTS Transplantation with no more than 0.03 g allogeneic skin tumors from FVB/N mice to healthy ICR mice was safe. After transplantation with allogeneic skin tumors to treat tumor-bearing mice, it inhibited the growth of tumors slightly at early stage, accompanied by fewer metastatic tumors at 24 days after transplantation (21.05% [i]vs.[/i] 47.37%), while there were no statistically significant differences in the values of BW, BCS, tumor volumes [i]in situ[/i], metastasis tumors, and overall survival between the transplanted and non-transplanted groups. The levels of serum interleukin (IL)-2 were significantly reduced in the controls ([i]P[/i]<0.05), but not in the recipients, which may be associated with the tGVT response. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that transplantation with allogeneic skin tumors is a safe treatment in mice, which can induce short-term tGVT response mediated by IL-2.