Role of leukotriene B4 12-hydroxydehydrogenase in α-galactosylceramide-pulsed dendritic cell therapy for non-small cell lung cancer

Abstract Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells exhibit potent antitumor effects upon activation by recognizing a specific glycolipid antigen. We previously performed phase I–II clinical studies to utilize iNKT cells using α-galactosylceramide-pulsed dendritic cells and identified leukotriene B4 12-hydroxydehydrogenase (LTB4DH) as a biomarker highly expressed in T cells derived from non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients who showed prolonged survival in respond to the iNKT cell immunotherapy. Because LTB4DH expression correlated with prolonged survival of NSCLC patients, we considered LTB4DH to play a role in iNKT cell immunotherapy. We herein demonstrate that the overexpression of LTB4DH in CD4 + or CD8 + T cells increases interferon-γ production and tumoricidal activity in the presence of prostaglandin E 2 . Moreover, the expression of granzyme a , granzyme b , and perforin mRNA was increased in LTB4DH-overexpressing cells.