Dexamethasone differentially depletes tumour and peripheral blood lymphocytes and can impact the efficacy of chemotherapy/checkpoint blockade combination treatment.

ABSTRACT: Dexamethasone is a synthetic glucocorticoid commonly used for the prevention and management of side effects in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. While it is effective as an anti-emetic and in preventing hypersensitivity reactions, dexamethasone depletes peripheral blood lymphocytes and impacts immune responses. The effect of dexamethasone on the number and quality of tumour-infiltrating leukocytes has not been reported. To address this, we calibrated the dose in two different strains of mice to achieve the same extent of peripheral blood lymphocyte depletion observed in patients with cancer. Doses that caused analogous depletion of T and B lymphocytes and NK cells from the peripheral blood, elicited no change in these populations within the tumour. The expression of immune checkpoin

SUBMITTER: Aston WJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6791454 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature