Korean J Physiol Pharmacol.  2008 Aug;12(4):193-197. 10.4196/kjpp.2008.12.4.193.

The Influence of Alpha-fetoprotein on Natural Suppressor Cell Activity and Ehrlich Carcinoma Growth

• Belyaev NN
• Bogdanov A
• Savvulidi
• Krasnoshtanov VK
• Tleulieva
• Alipov GK
• Sekine I
• Bae JS
• Lee JB
• Min YK
• Yang HM

• KMID: 1838358
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4196/kjpp.2008.12.4.193

Abstract

The influence of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) on the bone marrow (BM) natural suppressor (NS) cells of intact Ehrlich carcinoma -bearing CBA mice was studied. Bone marrow NS cells were fractionated into three fractions by isopycnic centrifugation on percoll gradients: NS1 (rho=1.080 g/ml), NS2 (rho=1.090 g/ml) and NS3 (1.100>rho>1.090 g/ml). These fractions were highly different in their sensitivity to known NS cell inductors (interleukin (IL)-2, IL-3 or histamine). None of the NS fractions isolated from the intact mice spontaneously produced antiproliferative activity, however, they showed a high level of NS (antiproliferative and natural killer cell inhibitory) activity under the influence of AFP. A single injection of AFP to intact mice led to an increase of spontaneous NS activity and the inhibition of natural killer cell activity. NS activity, especially NS2, was increased in when tumor cells were subcutaneously inoculated three days after AFP injection. In the AFP-treated mice, the tumor mass at 14 days was 60% larger than that in the untreated mice. Our data confirmed that AFP is a tumor marker that can inhibit cancer immunity and plays a role in cancer pathogenesis.

Keyword

Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP); Natural suppressor (NS) cells; Natural killer cells; Ehrlich carcinoma (EC)

MeSH Terms

alpha-Fetoproteins
Animals
Bone Marrow
Centrifugation, Isopycnic
Interleukin-3
Killer Cells, Natural
Mice
Mice, Inbred CBA
Povidone
Silicon Dioxide
Interleukin-3
Povidone
Silicon Dioxide
alpha-Fetoproteins

Figure

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  Fig. 1. Production of suppression factors (suppressive activity) by three NS cell fractions with and without (w/o) influence of inducers. Data are shown as mean±SD.

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  Fig. 2. Cytolytic activity of spleen NK cells obtained from untreated and AFP-treated mice. Data are shown as mean±SD.

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  Fig. 3. Influence of a single AFP injection on Ehrlich carcinoma (EC) growth. Tumor mass was observed with and without AFP injection after EC inoculation at the 14th day. Data are shown as mean±SD.

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