Foxp3-Mediated Immunity of Human Pancreatic Cancer Cell Line PANC-1

Problem statement: More and more evidences have shown that human cancer cells can express Foxp3, the regulatory T cell-associated transcription factor. The role of Foxp3 in human cancer cells is still unclear. We detected Foxp3 expression in human pancreatic cancer cell line PANC-1. SiRNA assays showed that Foxp3 expression suppressed the expression of TGF-β and IL-10 which could induce immune tolerance. Approach: Thus, we proposed that Foxp3 expression in PANC-1 cells controlled the response but not tolerance characteristics of the cells. To prove the proposal, we first developed the PANC-1 cell-induced the immune response model. PANC-1 cells induced response in autoimmune Non-Obese Diabetes (NOD) mice aged of >12 weeks. In vitro cell co-cultured assay demonstrated that PANC-1 induced response in splenocytes from NOD mice aged of >12 weeks. Results: In the same time, we found that inflammatory cytokine such as INF-γ, IL-2 and IL-17 increased and anti-inflammatory cytokine such as IL-4, IL-10 and TGF-β decreased in the co-cultured supernatant. These results demonstrate that PANC-1 cells induced response in splenocytes from NOD mice aged of >12 weeks. SiRNA assays showed that Foxp3 in PANC-1 cells controlled the response in the co-cultured cells. Conclusion: The results suggested that Foxp3 control the immunological response characteristics of PANC-1 cells in autoimmune condition.