Development of novel immune cell therapy combined with immune checkpoint inhibitors

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26460914
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: General internal medicine(including psychosomatic medicine)
• Research Institution: Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Ishikawa Takeshi 京都府立医科大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 講師 (90372846)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 免疫チェックポイント阻害剤 / がん免疫療法 / 細胞移入療法

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Although immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) improve clinical outcomes in numerous malignancies, the achievement of durable response is rare in many cancers and the anti-tumor effects of ICI cannot be expected in patients with an absence of CTLs in tumors. Development of new multidisciplinary treatment using immunotherapies and conventional treatment including chemotherapy is necessary for improving treatment outcomes of ICI. This study indicated that adoptive T-cell therapy combined with ICI potentiate the antitumor effects, partially resulting from Th1 polarization and the reduction of the number of Foxp3(+) cells in the tumor. In the study on the effect of anticancer drugs on immune checkpoint molecules, we observed that PD-L1 surface protein expression was enhanced, when pancreatic cancer cell lines were stimulated by anticancer drugs. We believe that our results of the present study will contribute to the development of new immune-based combination therapies.

Free Research Field

腫瘍免疫学