Abstract
The Fas/FasL system transmits intracellular apoptotic signaling, inducing cell apoptosis. However, Fas signaling also exerts non-apoptotic functions in addition to inducing tumor cell apoptosis. For example, Fas signaling induces lung cancer tumor cells to produce prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and recruit myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). Activated cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) induce and express high levels of FasL, but the effects of Fas activation initiated by FasL in CTLs on apoptosis-resistant tumor cells remain largely unclear. We purified activated CD8+ T cells from OT-1 mice, evaluated the regulatory effects of Fas activation on tumor cell escape and investigated the relevant mechanisms. We found that CTLs induced tumor cells to secrete PGE2 and increase tumor cell-mediated chemoattraction of MDSCs via Fas signaling, which was favorable to tumor growth. Our results indicate that CTLs may participate in the tumor immune evasion process. To the best of our knowledge, this is a novel mechanism by which CTLs play a role in tumor escape. Our findings implicate a strategy to enhance the antitumor immune response via reduction of negative immune responses to tumors promoted by CTLs through Fas signaling.
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Acknowledgements
The work was supported by the Specialized Research Fund for the Chinese National 973 Project (2013CB530502), the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (20110101110105), the Project of the Chinese National Nature Science Foundation (31370902, 31070795, 31270944), the Projects in Science and Technology Plan of Zhejiang Province (013C33G2010434) of China, the National Key Science and Technology Specific Project of China (2012ZX10002006), the National High Technology Research and Development Program (2012AA020900), and the Project of the Chinese National Natural Science Fund Committee for Talent Cultivation (J1103603).
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Yang, F., Wei, Y., Cai, Z. et al. Activated cytotoxic lymphocytes promote tumor progression by increasing the ability of 3LL tumor cells to mediate MDSC chemoattraction via Fas signaling. Cell Mol Immunol 12, 66–76 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/cmi.2014.21
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/cmi.2014.21
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