1. ¹Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biomediche, Cattedra di Immunologia, Università degli Studi di Milano, LITA Segrate, via F.lli Cervi 93, Segrate (MI) 20090, Italy
2. ²Unità Operativa di Senologia, Istituto Nazionale per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori, via Venezian 1, Milano 20133, Italy
3. ³Dipartimento di Scienze Precliniche, Cattedra di Immunologia, Università degli Studi di Milano, LITA Vialba, Ospedale Sacco, via GB Grassi 74, Milano 20156, Italy

Correspondence: Dr S Della Bella, E-mail: silvia.dellabella@unimi.it

Received 17 March 2003; Revised 7 July 2003; Accepted 8 July 2003.

Abstract

Tumours have at least two mechanisms that can alter dendritic cell (DC) maturation and function. The first affects the ability of haematopoietic progenitors to differentiate into functional DCs; the second affects their differentiation from CD14+ monocytes, promoting an early but dysfunctional maturation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vivo relevance of these pathways in breast cancer patients. For this purpose, 53 patients with invasive breast cancer were compared to 68 healthy controls. To avoid isolation or culture procedures for enrichment of DCs, analyses were directly performed by flow cytometry on whole-blood samples. The expression of surface antigens and intracellular accumulation of regulatory cytokines upon LPS stimulation were evaluated. The number of DCs, and in particular of the myeloid subpopulation, was markedly reduced in cancer patients (P<0.001). Patient DCs were characterized by a more mature phenotype compared with controls (P=0.016), and had impaired production of IL-12 (P<0.001). These alterations were reverted by surgical resection of the tumour. To investigate the possible role of some tumour-related immunoactive soluble factors, we measured the plasmatic levels of vascular endothelial growth factor, IL-10 and spermine. A significant inverse correlation between spermine concentration and the percentage of DCs expressing IL-12 was found. Evidence was also obtained that in vitro exposure of monocyte-derived DCs to spermine promoted their activation and maturation, and impaired their function. Taken together, our results suggest that both the above-described mechanisms could concomitantly act in breast cancer to affect DC differentiation, and that spermine could be a mediator of dysfunctional maturation of DCs.