Human Pancreatic Carcinoma-Associated Fibroblasts Promote Expression of Co-inhibitory Markers on CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T-Cells.

ABSTRACT: Carcinoma-associated pancreatic fibroblasts (CAFs) are the major type of cells in the stroma of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas and besides their pathological release of extracellular matrix proteins, they are also perceived as key contributors to immune evasion. Despite the known relevance of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes in cancers, the interactions between T-cells and CAFs remain largely unexplored. Here, we found that CAFs isolated from tumors of pancreatic cancer patients undergoing surgical resection (n = 15) expressed higher levels of the PD-1 ligands PD-L1 and PD-L2 compared to primary skin fibroblasts from healthy donors. CAFs strongly inhibited T-cell proliferation in a contact-independent fashion. Blocking the activity of prostaglandin E₂ (PGE₂) b

SUBMITTER: Gorchs L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6491453 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature