Yong Guk Kim

Preclinical Efficacy and Mechanisms of Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Animal Models of Autoimmune Diseases

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are present in diverse tissues and organs, including bone marrow, umbilical cord, adipose tissue, and placenta. MSCs can expand easily in vitro and have regenerative stem cell properties and potent immunoregulatory activity. They inhibit the functions of dendritic cells, B cells, and T cells, but enhance those of regulatory T cells by producing immunoregulatory molecules such as transforming growth factor-β, hepatic growth factors, prostaglandin E2, interleukin-10, indolamine 2,3-dioxygenase, nitric oxide, heme oxygenase-1, and human leukocyte antigen-G. These properties make MSCs promising therapeutic candidates for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. Here, we review the preclinical studies of MSCs in animal models for systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohns disease, and experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, and summarize the underlying immunoregulatory mechanisms.

Cell-based Immunotherapy for Colorectal Cancer with Cytokine-induced Killer Cells.

Colorectal cancer is the third leading cancer worldwide. Although incidence and mortality of colorectal cancer are gradually decreasing in the US, patients with metastatic colorectal cancer have poor prognosis with an estimated 5-year survival rate of less than 10%. Over the past decade, advances in combination chemotherapy regimens for colorectal cancer have led to significant improvement in progression-free and overall survival. However, patients with metastatic disease gain little clinical benefit from conventional therapy, which is associated with grade 3~4 toxicity with negative effects on quality of life. In previous clinical studies, cell-based immunotherapy using dendritic cell vaccines and sentinel lymph node T cell therapy showed promising therapeutic results for metastatic colorectal cancer. In our preclinical and previous clinical studies, cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells treatment for colorectal cancer showed favorable responses without toxicities. Here, we review current treatment options for colorectal cancer and summarize available clinical studies utilizing cell-based immunotherapy. Based on these studies, we recommend the use CIK cell therapy as a promising therapeutic strategy for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

Curdlan activates dendritic cells through dectin-1 and toll-like receptor 4 signaling

Curdlan, a β-1,3-glucan isolated from Alcaligenes faecalis, is an agonist of dectin-1 in various immune cells, including dendritic cells (DCs). However, whether curdlan also activates DCs through other receptors remains unknown. In this study, we found that curdlan activates DCs through dectin-1 and toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4). Curdlan increased the expression levels of surface molecules (CD40, CD80, CD86, and MHC-I/II), the production of cytokines (IL-12, IL-1β, TNF-α, and IFN-β), migration toward MIP-3β, and allogeneic T cell stimulation activity of DCs. Curdlan increased the phosphorylation of Syk, Raf-1, Akt, MAPKs, IKK, and NF-κB p65 in DCs. However, curdlan only slightly activated DCs transfected with small interfering RNAs against dectin-1 or TLR4 and C3H/HeJ DCs, which have non-functional TLR4, in comparison with control DCs. Curdlan increased antitumor activity of DCs in a syngeneic tumor model. In summary, our data show that curdlan activates DCs through dectin-1 and TLR4 signaling and the combination of curdlan and DCs efficiently inhibit tumor growth in mice.

Adoptive Cell Therapy of Melanoma with Cytokine-induced Killer Cells

Melanoma is the most aggressive skin cancer and its incidence is gradually increasing worldwide. Patients with metastatic melanoma have a very poor prognosis (estimated 5-year survival rate of <16%). In the last few years, several drugs have been approved for malignant melanoma, such as tyrosine kinase inhibitors and immune checkpoint blockades. Although new therapeutic agents have improved progression-free and overall survival, their use is limited by drug resistance and drug-related toxicity. At the same time, adoptive cell therapy of metastatic melanoma with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes has shown promising results in preclinical and clinical studies. In this review, we summarize the currently available drugs for treatment of malignant melanoma. In addition, we suggest cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells as another candidate approach for adoptive cell therapy of melanoma. Our preclinical study and several previous studies have shown that CIK cells have potent anti-tumor activity against melanomas in vitro and in an in vivo human tumor xenograft model without any toxicity.

Saucerneol D inhibits dendritic cell activation by inducing heme oxygenase-1, but not by directly inhibiting toll-like receptor 4 signaling

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE Saururus chinensis is a medicinal plant used to treat jaundice, pneumonia, edema, fever, and several inflammatory diseases. Saucerneol D (SD), a lignan constituent of this plant, has antioxidant, anti-asthmatic, and anti-inflammatory activities. SD has been previously reported to inhibit the pro-inflammatory responses of RAW264.7 cells and primary mast cells. In this study, we investigated the effect of SD on the functions of dendritic cells (DCs). MATERIALS AND METHODS SD was isolated from methanol extract of the roots of S. chinensis. Bone marrow-derived DCs were used as target cells. The effects of SD on the following DC functions were examined: surface molecule expression, cytokine expression, migration, allogenic T cell activation, heme oxygenase-1 expression, and Toll-like receptor 4 signaling. RESULTS In lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated DCs, SD inhibited the expression of cell surface molecules (MHC I/II, CD40, CD80, and CD86), the production of inflammatory mediators (nitric oxide, IL-12, IL-1β, and TNF-α), and allogenic T cell activation capacity. SD also inhibited DC migration toward MIP-3β by down-regulating CCR7 expression. SD attenuated LPS-induced activation of NF-κB and MAPK signaling in DCs, but did not directly inhibit kinase activities of IRAK1, IRAK4, TAK1, or IKKβ in enzymatic assays. SD did not inhibit LPS binding to myeloid differentiation protein-2, co-receptor of TLR4. SD increased the production of reactive oxygen species, Nrf-2, and heme oxygenase (HO)-1, which degrades the heme to immunosuppressive carbon monoxide and biliverdin, which may underlie the anti-inflammatory effects in SD-treated DCs. CONCLUSIONS Taken together, these data suggest that SD suppresses LPS-induced activation of DCs through the induction of HO-1, but not by directly affecting Toll-like receptor 4 signaling.

Cytokine-induced killer cells interact with tumor lysate-pulsed dendritic cells via CCR5 signaling.

The antitumor activity of cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells can be increased by co-culturing them with tumor lysate-pulsed dendritic cells (tDCs); this phenomenon has been studied mainly at the population level. Using time-lapse imaging, we examined how CIK cells gather information from tDCs at the single-cell level. tDCs highly expressed CCL5, which bound CCR5 expressed on CIK cells. tDCs strongly induced migration of Ccr5(+/+) CIK cells, but not that of Ccr5(-/-) CIK cells or Ccr5(+/+) CIK cells treated with the CCR5 antagonist Maraviroc. Individual tDCs contacted Ccr5(+/+) CIK cells more frequently and lengthily than with Ccr5(-/-) CIK cells. Consequently, tDCs increased the antitumor activity of Ccr5(+/+) CIK cells in vitro and in vivo, but did not increase that of Ccr5(-/-) CIK cells. Taken together, our data provide insight into the mechanism of CIK cell activation by tDCs at the single-cell level.

Inhibition of human pancreatic tumor growth by cytokine-induced killer cells in nude mouse xenograft model.

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth commonest cause of cancer-related deaths in the world. However, no adequate therapy for pancreatic cancer has yet been found. In this study, the antitumor activity of cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells against the human pancreatic cancer was evaluated in vitro and in vivo. Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells were cultured with IL-2-containing medium in anti-CD3 for 14 days. The resulting populations of CIK cells comprised 94% CD3+, 4% CD3-CD56+, 41% CD3+CD56+, 11% CD4+, and 73% CD8+. This heterogeneous cell population was called cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells. At an effector-target cell ratio of 100:1, CIK cells destroyed 51% of AsPC-1 human pancreatic cancer cells, as measured by the 51Cr-release assay. In addition, CIK cells at doses of 3 and 10 million cells per mouse inhibited 42% and 70% of AsPC-1 tumor growth in nude mouse xenograft assays, respectively. This study suggests that CIK cells may be used as an adoptive immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer patients.

CCL2 deficient mesenchymal stem cells fail to establish long-lasting contact with T cells and no longer ameliorate lupus symptoms

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multi-organ autoimmune disease characterized by autoantibody production. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) ameliorate SLE symptoms by targeting T cells, whereas the mechanisms of their efficacy remain incompletely understood. In this study, we show that transfer of human MSCs increased MRL.Faslpr mouse survival, decreased T cell infiltration in the kidneys, and reduced T cell cytokine expression. In vitro, allogeneic mouse MSCs inhibited MRL.Faslpr T cell proliferation and cytokine production. Time-lapse imaging revealed that MSCs recruited MRL.Faslpr T cells establishing long-lasting cellular contacts by enhancing T cell VCAM-1 expression in a CCL2-dependent manner. In contrast, CCL2 deficient MSCs did not induce T cell migration and VCAM-1 expression, resulting in insufficient cell-cell contact. Consequently, CCL2 deficient MSCs did not inhibit IFN-γ production by T cells and upon transfer no longer prolonged survival of MRL.Faslpr mice. Taken together, our imaging study demonstrates that CCL2 enables the prolonged MSC–T cell interactions needed for sufficient suppression of autoreactive T cells and helps to understand how MSCs ameliorate symptoms in lupus-prone MRL.Faslpr mice.