Rachael Kaspo
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Qiao Li
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Surgery / Medicine
Program: UROP
Session: Session 5 (2:40pm – 3:30pm)
Authors: Rachael Kaspo
Abstract
Interleukin-21 (IL-21) has been previously reported to increase the efficacy of T-cell therapy for cancer. It was shown that after the administration of IL-21 and IL-2 as adjuvants to T-cell transfer, the subcutaneous tumor and pulmonary metastasis regressed. A significant increase of cytotoxic antibody subclass IgG2b was detected in the sera of animals treated with IL-21, IL-2, and T cells. These IgG2b bound specifically to the cancer cells (MCA205) which were originally injected into the mice to establish the tumor model for treatment. The sera containing these antibodies mediated cancer cell lysis in the presence of complement. Further study using B-cell deficient mice showed that the humoral anti-cancer response was significantly reduced. Altogether, these findings indicated that B cells play an important role in the effect mediated by IL-21, which has not been fully studied yet. In this study, MCA205 cancer cells were injected subcutaneously into both flanks of B6 mice. Two weeks later, the CD19+ B-cells were isolated from these mice’s spleen and tumor-draining lymph nodes. The B cells were then cultured in media with vs. without IL-2 and/or IL-21. Cultured B cells were harvested after 5 days and stained for a flow analysis of Ki67, CD86, GL7, CD38, CD138, and CD19 expressions. The results will provide additional insight into the mechanisms of IL-21 on the anti-tumor B cell immunity.
