Cordycepin Sensitizes Cholangiocarcinoma Cells to Be Killed by Natural Killer-92 (NK-92) Cells

Immunotherapy harnessing immune functions is a promising strategy for cancer treatment. Tumor sensitization is one approach to enhance tumor cell susceptibility to immune cell cytotoxicity that can be used in combination with immunotherapy to achieve therapeutic efficiency. Cordycepin, a bioactive c...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2021-10, Vol.26 (19), p.5973
Main Authors: Panwong, Suthida, Wathikthinnakon, Methi, Kaewkod, Thida, Sawasdee, Nunghathai, Tragoolpua, Yingmanee, Yenchitsomanus, Pa-thai, Panya, Aussara
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Apoptosis
Bioactive compounds
Biocompatibility
Breast cancer
Cancer therapies
cancer treatment
Cell death
Chemotherapy
Cholangiocarcinoma
Clinical trials
Cordycepin
Cytotoxicity
Drug dosages
Immune system
immunomodulation
Immunotherapy
Leukemia
Medical prognosis
Natural killer cells
NK cell-based immunotherapy
sensitization
Tumors
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Immunotherapy harnessing immune functions is a promising strategy for cancer treatment. Tumor sensitization is one approach to enhance tumor cell susceptibility to immune cell cytotoxicity that can be used in combination with immunotherapy to achieve therapeutic efficiency. Cordycepin, a bioactive compound that can be extracted from some Cordyceps spp. has been reported to effectively inhibit tumor growth, however, the mechanism of its tumor sensitization activity that enhances immune cell cytotoxicity is unknown. In the present study, we investigated the potency of cordycepin to sensitize a lethal cancer, cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), to natural killer (NK) cells. Treatment with cordycepin prior to and during co-culturing with NK-92 cells significantly increased cell death of KKU-213A as compared to solitary cordycepin or NK treatment. Moreover, sensitization activity was also observed in the combination of NK-92 cells and Cordyceps militaris extract that contained cordycepin as a major component. The cordycepin treatment remarkably caused an increase in TRAIL receptor (DR4 and DR5) expression in KKU-213A, suggesting the possible involvement of TRAIL signaling in KKU-213A sensitization to NK-92 cells. In conclusion, this is the first report on the sensitization activity of cordycepin on CCA cells to NK cytotoxicity, which supports that cordycepin can be further developed as an alternate immunomodulating agent.
ISSN:1420-3049
1420-3049
DOI:10.3390/molecules26195973