Hyperthermia combined α-GalCer stimulation activated tumor-specific cytotoxicity T cell response in tumor-bearing mice upon different mouse ovarian cancer models.

(A) 1×106 of HM-1 cells were i.p injected into B6C3F1 mice and (B) 3×105 of ID8-luc cells were i.p. injected into C57BL/6 mice. Mice were divided into four groups (untreated control, hyperthermia only, α-GalCer alone and combined treatment with hyperthermia plus α-GalCer) with five mice per group and treated as described above. After 7 days, the splenocytes were isolated and stimulated overnight with ID8 cells or HM-1 cells. The splenocytes from each group without re-stimulated with ID8 cells or HM-1 cells were also cultured overnight as control. The percentage of cancer specific CTL represented as CD8+/IFN-γ+ were detected by flow cytometry by gating of 2×105 lymphocytes. It is shown that, 7 days after treatment, i.p. α-GalCer treatment slightly increased the number of tumor specific CTL (p = 0.0033, control versus α-GalCer for HM-1; pversus control for ID8). Hyperthermia plus α-GalCer exhibited strongest effect in activating specific CTL (p = 0.0026, combined treatment versus α-GalCer for HM-1; pversus α-GalCer for ID8). (* p