Immunotherapy with 4-1BBL-Expressing iPS Cell-Derived Myeloid Lines Amplifies Antigen-Specific T Cell Infiltration in Advanced Melanoma

We have established an immune cell therapy with immortalized induced pluripotent stem-cell–derived myeloid lines (iPS-ML). The benefits of using iPS-ML are the infinite proliferative capacity and ease of genetic modification. In this study, we introduced 4-1BBL gene to iPS-ML (iPS-ML-41BBL). The analysis of the cell-surface molecules showed that the expression of CD86 was upregulated in iPS-ML-41BBL more than that in control iPS-ML. Cytokine array analysis was performed using supernatants of the spleen cells that were cocultured with iPS-ML or iPS-ML-41BBL. Multiple cytokines that are beneficial to cancer immunotherapy were upregulated. Peritoneal injections of iPS-ML-41BBL inhibited tumor growth of peritoneally disseminated mouse melanoma and prolonged survival of mice compared to that of iPS-ML. Furthermore, the numbers of antigen-specific CD8+ T cells were significantly increased in the spleen and tumor tissues treated with epitope peptide-pulsed iPS-ML-41BBL compared to those treated with control iPS-ML. The number of CXCR6-positive T cells were increased in the tumor tissues after treatment with iPS-ML-41BBL compared to that with control iPS-ML. These results suggest that iPS-ML-41BBL could activate antigen-specific T cells and promote their infiltration into the tumor tissues. Thus, iPS-ML-41BBL may be a candidate for future immune cell therapy aiming to change immunological “cold tumor” to “hot tumor”.