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American Association for Cancer Research, Cancer Research, 7(70), p. 2595-2603, 2010

DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.can-09-1162

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Toll-like Receptor 3–Mediated Suppression of TRAMP Prostate Cancer Shows the Critical Role of Type I Interferons in Tumor Immune Surveillance

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

Inflammation has increasingly been recognized as a critical component influencing tumor growth. Recent reports have revealed conflicting evidence for the role of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) in modulating tumorigenesis. In our study, we implicate TLR3 in mediating immune surveillance with increased growth of implanted transgenic adenocarcinoma of the mouse prostate (TRAMP) tumors in TLR3−/− compared to TLR3+/+ mice. Activation of TLR3 by polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (polyI:C) leads to induction of multiple inflammatory pathways including nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB), mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases, and interferon (IFN) regulatory factors (IRFs). We explored the potential of TLR3 stimulation in prostate cancer immunotherapy, and showed that treatment with polyI:C can strongly suppress both subcutaneously implanted TRAMP tumors in syngenic mice, as well as orthotopic prostate cancers in TRAMP C57Bl6 × FvB F1 Tg+/− transgenic mice. Treated tumors remained well to moderately differentiated with increased infiltration of T lymphocytes and natural killer (NK) cells compared to poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma observed in untreated tumors. Like TLR3−/− mice, interferon-alpha receptor 1 (IFNAR1)−/− mice exhibited reduced tumor surveillance and impaired tumor suppression following polyI:C treatment. We observed that type I interferon-dependent induction of cytokines was responsible for NK activation, with depletion of NK cells leading to increased tumor growth as well as expansion of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ T regulatory (Treg) lymphocytes. Our study therefore delineates the importance of IFNAR-dependent functions in TLR3-mediated tumor suppression and supports the use of TLR3 agonists for prostate cancer immune-based therapies.