The attenuated hepatocellular carcinoma-specific Listeria vaccine Lmdd-MPFG prevents tumor occurrence through immune regulation of dendritic cells

// Xin Wan 1 , Ci Cheng 1 , Zhe Lin 1 , Runqiu Jiang 2 , Wei Zhao 1 , Xin Yan 1 , Junwei Tang 2 , Kun Yao 1 , Beicheng Sun 2 and Yun Chen 1 1 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China 2 Liver Transplantation Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China Correspondence to: Yun Chen, email: // Beicheng Sun, email: // Keywords : Lmdd-MPFG, Hepatocellular carcinoma, dendritic cells, PRRs Received : December 21, 2014 Accepted : February 12, 2015 Published : March 12, 2015 Abstract Immunotherapy is a promising treatment for liver cancer. Here, we tested the ability of the attenuated hepatocellular carcinoma-specific Listeria vaccine (Lmdd-MPFG) to treat hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in a mouse model. Immunization with the vaccine caused a strong anti-tumor response, especially in mice reinfused with dendritic cells (DCs). In mice that were also administered DCs, tumor suppression was accompanied by the strongest cytotoxic T lymphocyte response of all treatment groups and by induced differentiation of CD4+ T cells, especially Th17 cells. Additionally, the Lmdd-MPFG vaccine caused maturation of DCs in vitro . We demonstrated the synergistic effect of TLR4 and NLRP3 or NOD1 signaling pathways in LM-induced DC activation. These results suggest that the Lmdd-MPFG vaccine is a feasible strategy for preventing HCC.