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Blood, Vol. 94 No. 9 (November 1), 1999:
pp. 3135-3140
By
From the INSERM Unité 445, ICGM, Hôpital Cochin; INSERM E
99-22, Faculté de Médecine Bichat; and Service
d'Hématologie Adultes, Hôpital Necker-Enfants Malades,
Paris, France.
There is evidence from bone marrow transplantation that T cells may
be involved in the immunologic control of leukemia. But many patients
relapse despite a potent graft-versus-leukemia effect mediated by
allogeneic T cells. The expression of the FasL protein has been
suggested as a mechanism of tumor immune escape. We, therefore,
evaluated the capacity of leukemic cells from patients with acute or
chronic myelogenous leukemia to escape the allogeneic or autologous
immune response by bearing the FasL molecule. Although almost all
leukemic cells express the 37-kD form of FasL, only 54% of acute
myeloblastic leukemia and 27% of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) cells
bore a FasL with killing properties, as assessed by the ability of
leukemic cells to cause the apoptosis of a Fas-sensitive target cell
line or autologous activated T cells in 3 tested leukemic cases.
Experiments with a recombinant Fas-Fc molecule confirmed the role of
Fas/FasL in leukemic-mediated cell death. Only CML leukemic cells from
certain individuals contained the 26-kD truncated form of FasL. Thus,
myeloid leukemic cells from some, but not all patients can set up a
mechanism of immune escape involving the Fas/FasL pathway. This
leukemic escape may have implications for patients eligible for
adoptive cellular immunotherapy.
INDUCTION OF COMPLETE remissions with
donor lymphocyte injection (DLI) for leukemia relapses after allogeneic
bone marrow transplantation (BMT) is a strong indication of an in vivo immune control of hematologic malignancies, at least in the allogeneic setting. This graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) effect is particularly pronounced in cases of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and less prominent in acute leukemias.1 However, some
relapses occur despite the existence of a potent GVL effect, indicating
that the tumor cells escape the immune system.
Cancers can escape immune surveillance by various mechanisms involving
antigen processing and presentation, costimulation signals, or
immunomodulation with cytokines. Another mechanism relies on the
removal of activated tumor-specific T cells or natural killer (NK)
cells. The regulation of the immune response may depend on the
expression of functional death molecules related to the tumor necrosis
factor (TNF) family, by activated T cells, leading to homeostasis of
the immune system2 through a paracrine or autocrine
pathway.3 Thus, activated T lymphocytes at the tumor site,
bearing Fas receptor (Fas), could be killed by contact between Fas and
its counterpart FasL abnormally expressed by tumor cells.4 Functional membrane-bound FasL was recently found on several types of
solid tumors or tumor cell lines (melanoma, astrocytoma, colon cancer,
hepatocarcinoma, multiple myeloma), which could result in local
immunosuppression by cell-to-cell contacts.5 However, the
role of the Fas/FasL interaction in the immune escape of leukemia has
not been examined.
We have, therefore, evaluated the role of FasL in the escape of
leukemic cells from T lymphocytes. The FasL protein is expressed by
acute and chronic myelogenous leukemic cells, but the functional activity of FasL, assessed by its capacity to induce apoptosis of
Jurkat T cells, Fas-sensitive targets, was detected only in 27% of CML
patients and 54% of acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) patients. This
apoptotic capacity was also observed against autologous activated T
cells in 3 studied cases. A 26-kD truncated form of FasL was
concomitantly produced by several CML leukemic samples, but not in AML.
These results strongly suggest that the Fas/FasL pathway may be
implicated in leukemic immune escape.
Patients.
Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of 27 leukemic patients were
collected between November 1995 and March 1998 before the initiation of
chemotherapy. All patients gave their informed consent. The PBMC were
separated from total blood samples of patients with hyperleukocytosis
(WBC>10 109/L) by Ficoll-Hypaque gradient (Pharmacia
Biotech AB, Uppsala, Sweden) and frozen in 10% dimethyl sulfoxide,
10% human AB serum, or used fresh. All the PBMC samples contained a
majority of tumoral cells with less than 10% residual lymphocytes or
normal hemopoietic cells (checked by cytological, cytogenetic, or
fluores analysis).
DNA fragmentation and specific killing with the JAM test.
The JAM test was used to study the ability of leukemic cells to kill T
cells. DNA fragmentation was assessed by labeling the target Jurkat
cells with 3H TdR.6 This test was modified as follows: 5 × 106 Jurkat target cells were labeled
with 10 mCi/mL 3H TdR by incubating them in RPMI 10% fetal calf serum
in a humidified atmosphere with 5% CO2 at 37°C
overnight (15 hours). Excess 3H-Thymidine (Amersham Pharmacia bioTech,
Orsay, France) was washed off and 20 × 103 target cells were mixed with varying numbers of
effector leukemic cells in 200 µL in 96-well plates (Costar,
Cambridge, MA). The plates were incubated for 24 hours at 37°C and
100 µL of the supernatant was removed and added to liquid
scintillation fluid. Radioactivity was counted in a Inhibition of apoptosis by blocking Fas/FasL interactions.
Fas:Fc protein (Alexis Biochemicals, Laufelfingen,
Switzerland) (7.5 to 30 µg/mL) was used to inhibit FasL-mediated
apoptosis and was added to leukemic cells before their coculture with
Jurkat cells. The mean radioactivity obtained in the supernatant after overnight incubation was compared with the radioactivity obtained under
the same conditions without Fas-Fc. Inhibition was expressed as:
Western blotting.
Cells were incubated in lysis buffer (1% NP-40, 50 mmol/L Tris pH 8.0, 150 mmol/L NaCl, 5 mmol/L ethylenediamine tetraacetate, 6 mmol/L CHAPS,
1 µg/mL leupeptin, aprotinin, pepstatin A, 1 µmol/L phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride) on ice for 30 minutes and centrifuged at
14,000g. Supernatants were stored at Detection of FasL by flow cytometry analysis. Cells were incubated for 1 hour at 4°C with purified mouse anti-human FasL (IgG1, Nok1; Pharmingen). The cells were then incubated with fluorescein isothiocyanate-conjugated goat anti-mouse IgG secondary antibody for 30 minutes at 4°C and detected with a flow cytometer (FACScan; Becton Dickinson, Le Pont de Claix, France). Similar experiments were performed with permeabilized cells fixed with formaldehyde (intraPrep permeabilization reagent; Immunotech).
Patients Leukemic cells from 27 patients with hyperleukocytosis (WBC >10G/L) were selected for this study. The characteristics are shown in Table 1. The PBMC from 11 cases of CML, 13 de novo AML, 2 secondary AML (acute phase of primary myelofibrosis), and 1 acute lymphoblastic leukemia (acute phase of CML) were collected some time after chemotherapy or interferon-
therapy. The cells were usually taken at the time of
diagnosis or relapse of the disease. Three of 13 AML patients who were
treated by chemotherapy alone relapsed, 3 died during induction
therapy, and 3 never reached complete remission. Five patients were
treated with an allogeneic BMT from a sibling donor and 2 relapsed
after BMT. Relapses after BMT were treated by donor lymphocyte
transfusions to induce a GVL effect. All patients were monitored for 4 months to 3 years after the collection of the cells.
Function of FasL Apoptosis of Jurkat cells mediated by leukemic cells.
Jurkat cells bearing Fas molecules are sensitive to apoptosis because
of Fas ligation by agonistic Fas-MoAb or cells expressing functional
FasL. The DNA fragmentation induced by leukemic cells was compared with
the effect of 100 ng/mL anti-Fas-antibody, CH-11 MoAb, which induced
apoptotic death of 100% Jurkat cells after 24 hours. This MoAb
concentration was used as a positive control in the assay. Cell assays
were considered to be positive when there was 15% Jurkat cell death at
a ratio of 10:1. PBMC from 5 normal donors never caused the lysis of
more than 10% of Jurkat cells (data not shown). Experiments with
leukemic cells under the same culture conditions showed that PBMC from
3 of the 11 CML patients (P2, P10, P12) and 8 of the 15 AML patients
(P1, P11, P17, P20, P21, P22, P24, P26) induced a significant apoptosis of the target cells (Table 1). The mean percent apoptosis was 38%
(range, 25% to 71%) at an E/T ratio of 30:1 and 24% (range, 15% to
45%) at an E/T 10:1 (Fig 1). The PBMC from
both CML and AML individuals caused more target cell death at an
E/T ratio of 30:1 (mean and range), whereas no such
effect was noted with PBMC from normal donors (10% at 30:1). The PBMC
from the CML patient P2 killed 100% of Jurkat cells at an E/T ratio of
30:1, and the apoptotic effect was still pronounced at an E/T ratio of
3:1 (>40% apoptotic cell death) (data not shown).
Prevention of apoptosis mediated by leukemic cells by an antagonist
to the Fas/FasL interaction.
We confirmed that the killing of Jurkat cells cocultured with leukemic
cells involved the Fas/FasL interaction. Leukemic cells from 5 patients
(3 CML [P2, P10, P12] and 2 AML [P11, P22]) that caused a
significant apoptosis of Jurkat cells at an E/T ratio of 30:1 were
incubated with recombinant specific MoAb antagonist to Fas/FasL
interaction (15 µg/mL Fas-Fc) for 30 minutes, and then with Jurkat
cells. Significantly fewer Jurkat cells were killed in all cases. The
inhibition of apoptosis reached 64%, 83%, 63%, 75%, and 41% for
P2, P10, P11, P12, and P22, respectively (Fig 2A). This dose-dependent effect was up
to 100% for the highest concentation of the blocking MoAb (30 µg/mL)
at an E/T ratio of 10:1 (Fig 2B). All experiments included an
isotype-matched control MoAb (15 µg/mL) that had no protective effect
on apoptosis (data not shown).
FasL Protein Expression by Leukemic Cells The PBMC from 14 patients (7 AML and 7 CML), which induced a significant apoptosis of Jurkat cells (3 CML: P2, P10, and P12 and 5 AML: P11, P17, P21, P22, and P26) or no apoptosis (4 CML: P4, P5, P6, and P9 and 2 AML: P16 and P23), were assessed for their FasL protein content by Western blot analysis. The predicted 37-kD FasL molecule was detected in all samples of AML and CML cells and in the PBMC of 2 normal donors. However, the amount of FasL protein in leukemic cells was greater in both patient groups than in PBMC from normal donors (Fig 3A).
Recently, it has been suggested that the abnormal expression of FasL by
tumor cells could be responsible for the killing of specific activated
T cells in contact with the tumor. This abnormal expression has been
reported to be responsible for tumor escape in cases of melanoma,
hepatocarcinoma, colon cancer, and multiple myeloma,8 but
not yet in human leukemias. The implication of T cells in the
immunologic control of leukemias was first suggested in the setting of
BMT, where clinical trials have shown that the T-cell depletion of the
graft is responsible for a high incidence of
relapses.9 The recent practice of giving DLI to
treat leukemia relapses after allogeneic transplantation also indicates
that T lymphocytes are involved in the eradication of residual leukemic cells from the host.10 This GVL effect seems to be related
to an allogeneic recognition of the miHAg on leukemic cells by
donor,11 although the expansion of
cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) specific for
leukemia-associated antigens cannot be ruled out. Our data indicate
that FasL, which can kill a Fas-sensitive cell line, is present in 27%
of CML and 54% of AML individuals and 70% of patients expressed more
FasL as compared with normal individuals. In agreement with our data, a
recent report showed that several murine leukemic and lymphoma cell
lines expressing FasL can kill specific CTL and Fas-positive activated
T cells.4 Thus, the expression of FasL by human leukemic
cells could explain, at least partially, the resistance, of some
leukemic relapses, to DLI in vivo. A large study showed that about 70%
of CML and fewer than 40% of AML patients responded to DLI in
vivo,1 which is consistent with our findings. Another
indication comes from patients P1 and P22 who quickly suffered a
relapse of their AML after an allogeneic transplantation. Patient P1
was also resistant to his DLI, which produced a rapid fatal outcome.
PBMC of these 2 patients had a strong FasL activity, pointing to the
involvement of these escape mechanisms in vivo. However, a larger
number of cases treated by DLI or relapsing after BMT must now be
examined to see if there is a correlation between leukemic resistance
to DLI and the expression of FasL.
Submitted January 27, 1999; accepted July 6, 1999.
Supported by grants from the Institut National de la Santé et de
la Recherche Médicale, Ligue Nationale Contre le Cancer, Agence
Française du Sang, Fondation contre la Leucémie, and Délégation à la Recherche Clinique de l'Assistance
Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris.
The publication costs of this
article were defrayed in part by
page charge payment. This article
must therefore be hereby marked
"advertisement"
in accordance with 18 U.S.C. section
1734 solely to indicate this fact.
Address reprint requests to Agnès Buzyn, MD, INSERM U445, ICGM,
Université PARIS V Hôpital COCHIN, 27 Rue du Faubourg
Saint-Jacques, 75014 Paris, France; e-mail:
buzyn{at}icgm.cochin.inserm.fr.
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