IMR Press / FBL / Volume 29 / Issue 4 / DOI: 10.31083/j.fbl2904158
Open Access Original Research
The Ability of Clinically Relevant Chemotherapeutics to Induce Immunogenic Cell Death in Squamous Cell Carcinoma
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1 Cancer Center of Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, 400038 Chongqing, China
2 Department of Oncology, General Hospital of Western Theatre Command, 610000 Chengdu, Sichuan, China
*Correspondence: xiongyli@outlook.com (Yanli Xiong); mengxia.li@outlook.com (Mengxia Li)
These authors contributed equally.
Front. Biosci. (Landmark Ed) 2024, 29(4), 158; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.fbl2904158
Submitted: 16 January 2024 | Revised: 23 February 2024 | Accepted: 15 March 2024 | Published: 22 April 2024
Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Abstract

Background: Immunogenic cell death (ICD) is a crucial mechanism for triggering the adaptive immune response in cancer patients. Damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) are critical factors in the detection of ICD. Chemotherapeutic drugs can cause ICD and the release of DAMPs. The aim of this study was to assess the potential for paclitaxel and platinum-based chemotherapy regimens to induce ICD in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) cell lines. In addition, we examined the immunostimulatory effects of clinically relevant chemotherapeutic regimens utilized in the treatment of SCC. Methods: We screened for differentially expressed ICD markers in the supernatants of three SCC cell lines following treatment with various chemotherapeutic agents. The ICD markers included Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP), Calreticulin (CRT), Annexin A1 (ANXA 1), High Mobility Group Protein B1 (HMGB1), and Heat Shock Protein 70 (HSP70). A vaccination assay was also employed in C57BL/6J mice to validate our in vitro findings. Lastly, the levels of CRT and HMGB1 were evaluated in Serum samples from SCC patients. Results: Addition of the chemotherapy drugs cisplatin (DDP), carboplatin (CBP), nedaplatin (NDP), oxaliplatin (OXA) and docetaxel (DOC) increased the release of ICD markers in two of the SCC cell lines. Furthermore, mice that received vaccinations with cervical cancer cells treated with DDP, CBP, NDP, OXA, or DOC remained tumor-free. Although CBP induced the release of ICD-associated molecules in vitro, it did not prevent tumor growth at the vaccination site in 40% of mice. In addition, both in vitro and in vivo results showed that paclitaxel (TAX) and LBP did not induce ICD in SCC cells. Conclusion: The present findings suggest that chemotherapeutic agents can induce an adjuvant effect leading to the extracellular release of DAMPs. Of the agents tested here, DDP, CBP, NDP, OXA and DOC had the ability to act as inducers of ICD.

Keywords
squamous carcinoma
chemotherapy
immunogenic cell death
damage-associated molecular pattern
Funding
81902671/National Natural Science Foundation of China
82002444/National Natural Science Foundation of China
Figures
Fig. 1.
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