Gastric and colorectal cancers (GC and CRC) have poor prognosis and are resistant to chemo- and/or radiotherapy. In the present study, the prophylactic effects of dendritic cell (DC) vaccination are evaluated on disease progression and clinical benefits in a group of 54 GC and CRC patients treated with DC immunotherapy combined with cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells after surgery with or without chemo-radiotherapy. DCs were prepared from the mononuclear cells isolated from patients using IL-2/GM-CSF and loaded with tumor antigens; CIK cells were prepared by incubating peripheral blood lymphocytes with IL-2, IFN-γ, and CD3 antibodies. The DC/CIK therapy started 3 days after low-dose chemotherapy and was repeated 3–5 times in 2 weeks as one cycle with a total of 188.3±79.8×106 DCs and 58.8±22.3×108 CIK cells. Cytokine levels in patients' sera before and after treatments were measured and the follow-up was conducted for 98 months to determine disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). The results demonstrate that all cytokines tested were elevated with significantly higher levels of IFN-γ and IL-12 in both GC and CRC cohorts of DC/CIK treated patients. By Cox regression analysis, DC/CIK therapy reduced the risk of post-operative disease progression (p<0.01) with an increased OS (<0.01). These results demonstrate that in addition to chemo- and/or radiotherapy, DC/CIK immunotherapy is a potential effective approach in the control of tumor growth for post-operative GC and CRC patients.

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Local ischemia often causes a series of inflammatory reactions when both brain immune cells and the peripheral immune response are activated. In the human body, the gut and lung are regarded as the key reactional targets that are initiated by brain ischemic attacks. Mucosal microorganisms play an important role in immune regulation and metabolism and affect blood-brain barrier permeability. In addition to the relationship between peripheral organs and central areas and the intestine and lung also interact among each other. Here, we review the molecular and cellular immune mechanisms involved in the pathways of inflammation across the gut-brain axis and lung-brain axis. We found that abnormal intestinal flora, the intestinal microenvironment, lung infection, chronic diseases, and mechanical ventilation can worsen the outcome of ischemic stroke. This review also introduces the influence of the brain on the gut and lungs after stroke, highlighting the bidirectional feedback effect among the gut, lungs, and brain.

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Objective:The aim of the study was to evaluate the safety and therapeutic efficacy of autologous dendritic cells co-cultured with cytokine-induced killer cells (DC-CIK) for the treatment of lung cancer patients. Methods:In the present study, we recruited a group of 40 lung cancer patients after surgery registered in the Biotherapy Center during 2005-2011 and randomly divided patients into two groups: Twenty patients treated with DC-CIK therapy as the treatment group and the other twenty patients served as controls.Subjects were administrated with 1×106 units of IL-2 daily for 5 days before mononuclear cell isolation from peripheral blood. For the treatment group, after primary tumors were removed by surgery, 1-3 doses of DCs and CIKs were perfused via peripheral veins. The immunologic function,short-term therapeutic effects, 5-years overall survival rate (OS), and disease free survival rate (DFS) were compared between the two groups.In addition, the peripheral blood samples were extracted from all patients before and after DC-CIK therapy,analyzed for T cell subsets by flow cytometry,and the intracellular cytokines of T cells were detected simultaneously. Results:OS for 1, 3, and 5 years of DC-CIK therapy group were 100%, 88%, and 88% respectively which contrasted with 78%,66%, and 25% in the control group. DFS 1, 3, and 5 years of DC-CIK therapy groups were 100%, 85%,65% respectively compared to 73%,58%, 23% in the control groups. Although there were no changes in the subsets of T cells in peripheral blood before and after DC-CIK therapy, the intrace1lular cytokines IFN-γ,IL-2,IL-4, and IL-6 of the immune cells were noticeably improved in the treatment group. Conclusion:DC-CIK therapy is a potential effective therapeutic modality to improve OS and DFS in post-surgical lung cancer patients. Citation Format: Daiqing Gao, Changyou Li, Peng Zhao, Xiaofang Wei, Xihe Xie, Weihong Sun, Qingming Guo, Danni Zhu, Tianyi Gao, Aris T. Alexandrou, Jian Jian Li. The clinical effects of dendritic cell and cytokine-induced killer cell therapy for lung cancer after surgery. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 2812. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-2812