Tumor-Activated TCRgammadelta~+ T Cells from Gastric Cancer Patients Induce the Antitumor Immune Response of TCRaalphabeta~+ T Cells via Their Antigen-Presenting Cell-Like Effects

摘要

Human gammadelta T cells display the principal characteristics of professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs), in addition to playing a vital role in immunity through cytokine secretion and their cytotoxic activity. However, it is not clear whether gammadelta T cells perform APC-like functions under pathological conditions. In this study, we showed that, in contrast to peripheral-derived gammadelta T cells directly isolated from PBMCs of gastric cancer patients, tumor-activated gammadelta T cells not only killed tumor cells efficiently but also strongly induced primary CD4~+ and CD8~+ alphabeta T cells proliferation and differentiation. More importantly, they abrogated the immunosuppression induced by CD4~+CD25~+ Treg cells and induced the cytotoxic function of CD8~+ alphabeta T cells from patients with gastric cancer. In conclusion, tumor-activated gammadelta T cells can induce adaptive immune responses through their APC-like functions, and these cells may be a potentially useful tool in the development of tumor vaccines and immunotherapy.