Introduction:

Dendritic cells (DC) are involved in immune recognition, response and immunomodulation mechanisms related to the onset of cancer.

Objective:

To explore DCs mechanism in the inhibition of autophagy in hepatoma cells.

Methods:

Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated by Ficoll density gradient centrifugation and induced into DCs, which were co-cultured with HepG2 cells by Transwell migration assay. HepG2 cell activity was determined using the CCK8 assay. LC3 autophagy index expression was measured with Western blot analysis, and the expression and secretion of cytokines, with qRT-PCR and ELISA.

Results:

In the co-culture system, DCs were able to reduce HepG2 cells viability; IL-2, IL-12, IL-10 and IFN-γ expression in DCs was also significantly inhibited, although IL-2 and IFN-γ were still expressed 0.6 and 0.53 more than in the control group.

Conclusion:

DCs can regulate autophagy in hepatocellular carcinoma cells. The mechanism may be related to the synthesis and release of cytokines such as IL-2, IL-12 and IFN-γ by DCs.