Antitumor effect of combination treatment of Astragalus polysaccharide and PD-L1 antibody on mice with Lewis lung carcinoma

Objective:To investigate the antitumor effect of combination treatment of Astragalus polysaccharide and PD-L1 antibody on mice with Lewis lung carcinoma.Methods:Forty male C57BL/6 mice were selected and divided equally into Model group,PD-L1 group,APSgroup,and APS+PD-L1 group.Lewis lung carcinoma cells were used to establish the lung carcinoma mouse model.After successful modeling,the PD-L1 group was injected with 200μg of PD-L1 antibody intraperitoneally on day 0/4/8/12;the APS group was gavaged with 80 mg/kg of APS daily for 14 days;the APS+PD-L1 group was gavaged with 80 mg/kg of APS daily for 14 days,and in addition,200μg of PD-L1 antibody was injected intraperitoneally on day 0/4/8/12.The spleen and thymus indices of each group of mice were observed,to plot the tumor growth curve and calculate the tumor suppression rate.The ratio of T-lymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood was measured by flow cytometry;the level of T cell-related cytokines in peripheral blood was detected by ELISA;MTT assay was used to detect the tumor-killing function of spleen lymphocytes in vitro.Results:PD-L1,APS,and APS+PD-L1 groups significantly increased spleen and thymus indices and inhibited tumor growth in lung carcinoma mice;flow cytometry results showed that PD-L1,APS,and APS+PD-L1 groups increased CD4^(+)T-cell ratio and CD4^(+)/CD8^(+)T-cell ratio;ELISA results showed that PD-L1,APS,and APS+PD-L1 groups significantly increased T cell-associated cytokine levels;MTT results showed that PD-L1,APS,and APS+PD-L1 groups enhanced the tumor-killing function of splenic lymphocytes in vitro.Conclusions:Astragalus polysaccharide can inhibit tumor growth,increase spleen and thymus indices,increase CD4^(+)T-cell ratio and CD4^(+)/CD8^(+)T-cell ratio,aswell as improve T-cell-related cytokine levels and splenic lymphocyte tumor-killing function in vitro in a mouse model of lung carcinoma,essentially inhibiting tumorigenesis and progression.

From targeting the tumor to targeting the immune system: Transversal challenges in oncology with the inhibition of the PD-1/PD-L1 axis

After that the era of chemotherapy in the treatment of solid tumors have been overcome by the "translational era", with the innovation introduced by targeted therapies, medical oncology is currently looking at the dawn of a new "immunotherapy era" with the advent of immune checkpoint inhibitors(CKI) antibodies.The onset of PD-1/PD-L1 targeted therapy has demonstrated the importance of this axis in the immune escape across almost all human cancers.The new CKI allowed to significantly prolong survival and to generate durable response, demonstrating remarkable efficacy in a wide range of cancer types.The aim of this article is to review the most up to date literature about the clinical effectiveness of CKI antibodies targeting PD-1/PD-L1 axis for the treatment of advanced solid tumors and to explore transversal challenges in the immune checkpoint blockade.

PD-1/PD-L1 blockade in cervical cancer: current studies and perspectives

Cervical cancer (CC) is the fourth most commonly diagnosed female malignancy and a leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide, especially in developing countries. Despite the use of advanced screening and preventive vaccines, more than half of all CC cases are diagnosed at advanced stages, when therapeutic options are extremely limited and side effects are severe. Given these circumstances, new and effective treatments are needed. In recent years, exciting progress has been made in immunotherapies, including the rapid development of immune checkpoint inhibitors. Checkpoint blockades targeting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis have achieved effective clinical responses with acceptable toxicity by suppressing tumor progression and improving survival in several tumor types. In this review, we summarize recent advances in our understanding of the PD-1/PD-L1 signaling pathway, including the expression patterns of PD-1/PD-L1 and potential PD-l/PD-Ll-related therapeutic strategies for CC.