A Combined Nutritional and Immunological Intervention to Activate Natural Cytotoxicity Against Breast Cancer Cells in Vitro and In Vivo
Abstract
The hypothesis of this Idea Award is that a combination of nutritional and immunological treatments may be effective in stimulating the body's natural immune defenses against breast cancer. The project is examining whether treatment of dendritic cells (DC) with retinoic acid (RA), a metabolite of vitamin A shown to modulate the differentiation and/or activation of several types of immune cells, followed by pulsing the DC with (-galactosylceramide ((-GalCer), a synthetic lipid known to alter immune function and to exert antitumorigenic activity, will reduce the growth and/or stimulate natural immunity against 4T1 tumors in adult female Balb/C mice. 4T1 is a syngenic breast tumor cell that does not evoke an immune response. However, natural immunity might help to fight the tumor. Results in the past year have shown that RA + <GalCer-treated (pulsed) DCs, administered to mice with 4T1 cells, alter immune cell populations, and reduce tumor size. While the tumor alone alters immune cell populations, DCs restore a more normal pattern. The effect on RA and <GalCer is not directly on the growth of the 4T1 cells. Our studies with DCs will be repeated in year 3 with modifications to increase the sample size and improve the timing of tumor assessment. The results to date support the idea that a nutritional and immunological combination treatment of host DCs could be effective in reducing the growth of breast tumors.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA512577
Entities
People
- A. C. Ross
Organizations
- Pennsylvania State University