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01-10-2020 | Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia | Original Article

Blockade of PD-1 and TIM-3 immune checkpoints fails to restore the function of exhausted CD8⁺ T cells in early clinical stages of chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Authors: Hadiseh Rezazadeh, Mojgan Astaneh, Mohsen Tehrani, Hadi Hossein-Nataj, Ehsan Zaboli, Ramin Shekarriz, Hossein Asgarian-Omran

Published in: Immunologic Research | Issue 5/2020

Abstract

Blocking antibodies targeting immune checkpoint molecules achieved invaluable success in tumor therapy and amazing clinical responses in a variety of cancers. Although common treatment protocols have improved overall survival in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), they continue to relapse and progress. In the present in vitro study, the application of anti-PD-1 and anti-TIM-3 blocking antibodies was studied to restore the function of exhausted CD8⁺ T cells in CLL. CD8⁺ T cells were isolated from peripheral blood of 20 patients with CLL, treated with blocking antibodies, and cocultured with mitomycin-frozen non-CD8⁺ T cell fraction as target cells. Cultures were stimulated with anti-CD3/CD28 antibodies to assess the proliferation of CD8⁺ T cells by MTT and stimulated with PMA/ionomycin to measure the levels of CD107a expression and cytokine production by flow cytometry and ELISA, respectively. Our results showed that the blockade of PD-1 and TIM-3 does not improve the proliferation of CD8⁺ T cells in CLL patients. No significant difference was found between control and blocked groups in terms of degranulation properties and production of IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-2, and IL-10 by CD8⁺ T cells. We observed that pre-treatment of CD8⁺ T cells with blocking antibodies in CLL patients at early clinical stages had no effects on restoring their functional properties. Further in vitro and in vivo complementary studies are required to more explore the utility of checkpoint inhibitors for CLL patients.

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Title: Blockade of PD-1 and TIM-3 immune checkpoints fails to restore the function of exhausted CD8+ T cells in early clinical stages of chronic lymphocytic leukemia
Authors: Hadiseh Rezazadeh
Mojgan Astaneh
Mohsen Tehrani
Hadi Hossein-Nataj
Ehsan Zaboli
Ramin Shekarriz
Hossein Asgarian-Omran
Publication date: 01-10-2020
Publisher: Springer US
Keywords: Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
Cytokines
Anti-CD3 Antibody
Published in: Immunologic Research / Issue 5/2020
Print ISSN: 0257-277X
Electronic ISSN: 1559-0755
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12026-020-09146-4

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Blockade of PD-1 and TIM-3 immune checkpoints fails to restore the function of exhausted CD8⁺ T cells in early clinical stages of chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Abstract

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Abstract

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