Objective To study the method of obtaining a large number of dendritic cells （DC）. To study the specific cytotoxicity T lymphocyte (CTL) effect against tumor cells initiated by DC pulsed with peptide of cancer cell. Methods Development of cells with cytologic features of DC in bone marrow cultures supplemented with granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulus factor (GM-CSF) and IL-4. Determining the DC phenotype and the specific structure by electronic microscopy. The CTL effect against pancreatic carcinoma leading by the DC pulsed with tumor cells lysate in vitro was observed. Results A large number of typical DC was proliferated by supplementing with GM-CSF and IL-4 cytokines. DC had specific cell appearance and structure, and highly expressed various cell surface molecules. TNF-α had the ability of stimulating DC mature, the mature DC had the enhancing abilities of antigen presenting and IL-12 self-secreting, as well as, expressed higher levels of CD54， MHC-Ⅱ and CD86 molecules than control group (P＜0.05). T lymphoid cell stimulated by DC without tumor antigen could not recognize and kill the target cells, only if DC pulsed with peptide of cancer cell can lead a b immune response to special tumor cells. The inhibiting ratio of CTL was significantly higher than that in other groups (P＜0.01). Conclusion Bone marrow DC has b ability of inducing special CTL against determined cancer cells after they are pulsed with tumor cell lysate. DC vaccine is probably a new immunotherapeutic method against tumor in the near future.
Objective To study the expression of human epidermal growth factor receptor-3 （HER-3） in breast cancer patients and analyze the relation between its expression and the clinical pathology of breast cancer. Methods The complete data of 139 female breast cancer patients underwent operation from January 2006 to October 2006 in this hospital were collected，who were without preoperative chemotherapy and radiation therapy，but with postoperative endo-crine therapies. HER-3 expression in the breast cancer tissues was detected by immunohistochemistry. Information on histological grading，tumor diameter，lymph node metastasis，and telephone number were obtained from their medical records. The relation between indication and HER-3 expression was analyzed. Results ①The positive expression of HER-3 in the breast cancer tissues was 30.2% （42/139）；②The expression of HER-3 was unrelated to the age of patient with breast cancer （r=0.030，P=0.721）；③HER-3 expression was a positive related to the tumor diameter （r=0.176，P=0.038）， lymph node metastasis （r=0.205，P=0.016），or histological grading （r=0.197，P=0.020），which was a negative related to the five-year survival rate （r=-0.254，P=0.003）. Conclusion Detection of HER-3 expression in breast cancer tissues might be a clinical significance for the early diagnosis/treatment，medication，and prognosis of the tumors as well as research and development of new drug.