Biophysical Characteristics of DCs in Tumor Microenvironment

The generation and development of cancers are accompanied with a marked suppression of human immune system. The dysfunction of DCs has been implicated in tumor-bearing host. In order to elucidate the effects of tumor microenvironment-derived factors (TMDF) on the functions of DCs from biophysical aspects, DCs were treated with the cancer cells and their culture supernatant. The results showed that the biophysical characteristics of imDCs and mDCs were severely deteriorated by TMDF compared with those under normal conditions, moreover, and these changes are closely correlated with the expression levels of some cytoskeleton-binding proteins. The impaired biophysical characteristics of DCs may be one of many aspects of the immune escape mechanisms of tumors. It is significant for further understanding of the immune function of DCs, immune escape mechanism, and improving the clinical effectiveness of DCs-based immune therapy against cancer.