• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• 제24권1호
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• pp.29-56
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• 2024

In recent years, remarkable progress has been made in the molecular profiling of gastric cancer. This progress has led to the development of various molecular classifications to uncover subtype-specific dependencies that can be targeted for therapeutic interventions. Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is a crucial biomarker for advanced gastric cancer. The recent promising results of novel approaches, including combination therapies or newer potent agents such as antibody-drug conjugates, have once again brought attention to anti-HER2 targeted treatments. In HER2-negative diseases, the combination of cytotoxic chemotherapy and programmed cell death-1/programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-1/PD-L1) inhibitors has become the established standard of care in first-line settings. In the context of gastric cancer, potential biomarkers such as PD-L1 expression, Epstein-Barr virus, microsatellite instability, and tumor mutational burden are being considered for immunotherapy. Recently, promising results have been reported in studies on anti-Claudin18.2 and fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 treatments. Currently, many ongoing trials are aimed at identifying potential targets using novel approaches. Further investigations will be conducted to enhance the progress of these therapies, addressing challenges such as primary and acquired resistance, tumor heterogeneity, and clonal evolution. We believe that these efforts will improve patient prognoses. Herein, we discuss the current evidence of potential targets for systemic treatment, clinical considerations, and future perspectives.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제14권5호
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• pp.3109-3116
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• 2013

The majority of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients have a poor prognosis with current therapies, and new approaches are urgently needed. We have developed a novel therapeutic cancer vaccine platform based on tumor cell derived autophagosomes (DRibbles) for cancer immunotherapy. We here evaluated the effectiveness of DRibbles-pulsed dendritic cell (DC) immunization to induce anti-tumor immunity in BALB/c mouse HCC and humanized HCC mouse models generated by transplantation of human HCC cells (HepG2) into BALB/c-nu mice. DRibbles were enriched from H22 or BNL cells, BALB/c-derived HCC cell lines, by inducing autophagy and blocking protein degradation. DRibbles-pulsed DC immunization induced a specific T cell response against HCC and resulted in significant inhibition of tumor growth compared to mice treated with DCs alone. Antitumor efficacy of the DCs-DRibbles vaccine was also demonstrated in a humanized HCC mouse model. The results indicated that HCC/DRibbles-pulsed DCs immunotherapy might be useful for suppressing the growth of residual tumors after primary therapy of human HCC.

• 약학회지
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• 제48권6호
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• pp.335-344
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• 2004

Interleukin-2 (IL-2), a glycoprotein mainly secreted by CD4+ T helper Iymphocytes, has been developed to use recombinant cytokine to augment the immune response against cancer since IL-2 not only stimulates T Iymphocytes but also enhances natural killer (NK) cell activity. In order to evaluate the immunological safety of recombinant mouse IL-2 (rmIL-2) in cancer therapy, renal cell carcinoma was established in the flank by s.c. injection of renca cell line. Tumor-bearing BALB/c mice were treated with I.p. injections with $2{\times}10^5$ Lu rmIL-2. Even though the tumor size was diminished, there were not significant recovery of body and relative lymphoid organ weights including thymic atrophy in rmIL-2 immunotherapy. Distribution ratios of T cell subsets in thymus were analysed using flow cytometry. Without regard to dosage of rmIL-2, the ratio of CD3+CD4-CD8- T cells was increased in accordance with survival of solid tumor but that of CD4+CD8+ T cells was decreased dramatically. Emergence of autoantibodies (ANA, anti-dsDNA, and anti-histone) in blood was measured after rmIL-2 treatment. The results showed that the levels of ANA and anti-dsDNA did not significantly changed, but the level of anti-histone was increased significantly owing to rmIL-2 therapy. These results indicate rmIL-2 immunotherapy is to induce the autoimmune potential, and the anti-histone measurement as a biomarker of autoimmunity is useful in cancer immunotherapy.

• 대한의생명과학회지
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• 제28권4호
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• pp.247-259
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• 2022

Immunotherapy, which uses an immune mechanism in the body, has received considerable attention for cancer treatment. Suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA), also known as a histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi), is used as a cancer treatment to induce active immunity by increasing the expression of T cell-induced chemokines. However, this SAHA treatment has the disadvantage of causing PD-L1 overexpression in tumor cells. In this study, we prevented PD-L1 overexpression by blocking the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway using PD-L1 siRNA. We designed two types of liposomes, the neutral lipid 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholin (POPC) for SAHA, and 1,2-dioleoyl-3-trimethylammoniumpropane (DOTAP) for siRNA. To effectively target PD-L1 in cancer cells, we conjugated PD-L1 antibody with liposomes containing SAHA or PD-L1 siRNA. These immunoliposomes were also evaluated for cytotoxicity, gene silencing, and T-cell-induced chemokine expression in human non-small cell lung cancer A549 cells. It was confirmed that the combination of the two immunoliposomes increased the cancer cell suppression efficacy through Jurkat T cell induction more than twice compared to SAHA alone treatment. In conclusion, this combination of immunoliposomes containing a drug and nucleic acid has promising therapeutic potential for non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC).

• 한국식생활문화학회지
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• 제35권2호
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• pp.215-223
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• 2020

Ganjang and doenjang are known as major fermented soy-based foods in Koreans. Current investigations have proved that fermented soybean foods impart anti-cancer, anti-obesity, and anti-diabetic effects. The aim of this study was to evaluate the anti-cancer activities of commercialized soy food, Ganjang, as a function of aging period. The test groups were classified into four time periods-short (under 5 years, S group), mid (under 10 years, M group), long (under 15 years, L group), and eternal (over 15 years, E group). The anti-cancer effects of Ganjang were determined by cell cytotoxicity assay of three types of cancer cell lines and splenocyte proliferation assay. Besides these assays, we also analyzed NK cell activity for cancer immunotherapy. The results show that the anti-cancer effect increased in the S and M period aging groups for all three cancer cell lines. Interestingly, similar to the anti-cancer result, splenocyte proliferation and NK activity showed the highest effect in the S and M groups. In contrast, Japanese ganjang-treated (JG1, JG2) groups and E group showed significantly reduced splenocyte proliferation. Collectively, these results suggest that the short and middle periods of traditional fermented Ganjang might have potential anti-cancer activities.

• BMB Reports
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• 제55권1호
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• pp.39-47
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• 2022

Adoptive cell transfer (ACT), a form of cell-based immunotherapy that eliminates cancer by restoring and strengthening the body's immune system, has revolutionized cancer treatment. ACT entails intravenous transfer of either tumor-resident or peripheral blood-modified immune cells into cancer patients to mediate anti-tumor response. Although these immune cells control and eradicate cancer via enhanced cytotoxicity against specific tumor antigens, several side effects have been frequently reported in clinical trials. Recently, exosomes, potential cell-free therapeutics, have emerged as an alternative to cell-based immunotherapies, due to their higher stability under same storage condition, lower risk of GvHD and CRS, and higher resistance to immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Exosomes, which are nano-sized lipid vesicles, are secreted by living cells, including immune cells. Exosomes contain proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids, and the functional role of each exosome is determined by the specific cargo derived from parental cells. Exosomes derived from cytotoxic effectors including T cells and NK cells exert anti-tumor effects via proteins such as granzyme B and FasL. In this mini-review, we describe the current understanding of the ACT and immune cell-derived exosomes and discuss the limitations of ACT and the opportunities for immune cell-derived exosomes as immune therapies.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• 제7권3호
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• pp.109-116
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• 2007

Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is responsible for cervical cancer, a common cancer in women. Since HPV infection and cancer development are controlled by the host immune system, immunotherapy against HPV can be helpful in preventing or treating HPV-associated cervical cancer. Two oncoproteins of HPV16, E6 and E7, are promising targets for immunotherapy against cervical cancer, because they are constitutively expressed in cervical cancer. Methods: Since cellular vaccines using B cells as well as dendritic cells offer an efficient approach to cancer immunotherapy, we opted to use B cells. We evaluated the immunogenicity and anti-tumor effects of a B cell vaccine transduced with HPV16 E6/E7-expressing adenovirus. Results: Vaccination with HPV16 E6/E7-transduced B cells induced E6/E7-specific $CD8^+$ T cell-dependent immune responses and generated anti-tumor effects against E6/E7-expressing TC-1 tumor. The anti-tumor effect induced by this B cell vaccine was similar to that elicited by DC vaccine, showing that B cells can be used as an alternative to dendritic cells for cellular vaccines. Conclusion: Thisstudy has shown the feasibility of using B cells as immunogenic APCs and the potential for developing prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines against HPV-associated cervical cancer using a B cell vaccine transduced with adenovirus expressing HPV16 E6/E7.

• BMB Reports
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• 제54권1호
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• pp.44-58
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• 2021

Natural killer (NK) cells, key antitumor effectors of the innate immune system, are endowed with the unique ability to spontaneously eliminate cells undergoing a neoplastic transformation. Given their broad reactivity against diverse types of cancer and close association with cancer prognosis, NK cells have gained considerable attention as a promising therapeutic target for cancer immunotherapy. NK cell-based therapies have demonstrated favorable clinical efficacies in several hematological malignancies but limited success in solid tumors, thus highlighting the need to develop new therapeutic strategies to restore and optimize anti-tumor activity while preventing tumor immune escape. The current therapeutic modalities yielding encouraging results in clinical trials include the blockade of immune checkpoint receptors to overcome the immune-evasion mechanism used by tumors and the incorporation of tumor-directed chimeric antigen receptors to enhance NK cell anti-tumor specificity and activity. These observations, together with recent advances in the understanding of NK cell activation within the tumor microenvironment, will facilitate the optimal design of NK cell-based therapy against a broad range of cancers and, more desirably, refractory cancers.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• 제6권3호
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• pp.154-162
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• 2006

Background: Dendritic cell (DC)-based cancer immunotherapy is studied for several years. However, it is mainly derived from autologous PBMC or leukapheresis from patient, which has limitations about yield and ability of DC production according to individual status. In order to solve these problems, inquiries about allogeneic DCs are performed but there are no preclinical trial answers for effect or toxicity of allogeneic DC to use for clinical trial. In this study, we compared the anti-tumor effect of allogeneic and autologous DCs from mouse bone marrow stem cells in mouse metastatic melanoma model. Methods: B16F10 melanoma cells ($5{\times}10^4$/mouse) were injected intravenously into the C57BL/6 mouse. Therapeutic DCs were differentiated from autologous (C57BL/6: CDC) or allogeneic (B6C3F1: BDC) bone marrow stem cells with GM-CSF, SCF and IL-4 for 13days and pulsed with B16F10 tumor cell lysate (Blys) for 18hrs. DC intra-peritoneal injections began on the 8th day after the tumor cell injection by twice with one week interval. Results: Anti-tumor response was observed by DC treatment without any toxicity especially in allogeneic DC treated mice (tumor burden score: $2.667{\pm}0.184,\;2.500{\pm}0.463,\;2.000{\pm}0.286,\;1.500{\pm}0.286,\;1.667 {\pm}0.297$ for saline, CDC/unpulsed-DC: U-DC, CDC/Blys-DC, BDC/U-DC and BDC/Blys-DC, respectively). IFN-${\gamma}$ secretion was significantly increased in allogeneic DC group stimulated with B16F10 cell lysate ($2,643.3{\pm}5,89.7,\;8,561.5{\pm}2,204.9.\;6,901.2{\pm}141.1pg/1{\times}10^6$ cells for saline, BDC/U-DC and BDC/Blys-DC, respectively) with increased NK cell activity. Conclusion: Conclusively, promising data was obtained that allogeneic DC can be used for DC-based cancer immunotherapy.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제17권4호
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• pp.2027-2030
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• 2016

Objective: To investigate the effect of peripheral blood CD4 + CD25 + regulatory T cell on postoperative immunotherapy in patients with renal carcinoma. Methods: 38 patients with renal cell carcinoma were recruited, and 20 patients from the operation group purely underwent the radical nephrectomy therapy, 18 patients from the combined group successively underwent the radical nephrectomy therapy and IFN-${\alpha}$ adjuvant immunotherapy. Additionally, 12 healthy subjects were recruited in the same period of time and regarded as the control group. Flow cytometry was used to detect CD4 +, CD8 +, CD4 + CD25+ T lymphocyte subset content and the ratio of all parts in the pre-operative period, in the first post-operative week and in the third post-operative month, compare and analyze its variation trend. Results: The CD4+CD25+ T lymphocyte subset content of individual renal carcinoma patients was significantly higher than that of the control group, also increases with the progression in the tumor stage (P<0.05). The post-operative CD4 + CD25+T lymphocytes of individual operation group and combined group patients showed different degrees of increment, but the increment of the combined group was significantly lower than that of the operation group (P<0.05). For the combined group patients with less pre-operative CD4 + CD25+T lymphocytes, their levels would increase after the immunotherapy, while the pre-operative patients with more CD4 + CD25+ T lymphocytes were the opposite situation. Conclusion: The detection of peripheral blood CD4+CD25+ regulatory T lymphocyte subset can reflect the anti-tumor immune status of renal cell carcinoma patient body. It can contribute to predict the prognosis of immunotherapy and provide reference for the choice of renal carcinoma post-operative adjuvant immunotherapy.