Objective:The generation and progression of tumor is accompanied by a marked suppression of the effect units of immune system.DCs are the most powerful antigen presenting cells as now known and play significant roles in the initiation of innate and acquired immune response.This research aims to study the influence of microenvironment created by soluble cytokines derived from hepatocellular carcinoma cells(HCC) on the functional status of DCs

and to explore the clinical application of Fourier-Transformed Infrared(FT-IR) technology to the DCs-based cellular immune therapy against tumor.Methods:The monocytes were cultured in RPMI1640/10% FBS supplemented with 100 ng/ml rhGM-CSF and 100 ng/ml rhIL-4 for 7 days to develop into immature DCs(imDCs).Maturation was induced by addition of 20 ng/ml rhTNF-α to imDCs for another 3 days of culture.Acquired imDCs and mDCs were respectively co-cultured with human HCC for 48 hours in Transwell.The functional status of treated cells was investigated by FT-IR scanning and western blotting with untreated cells as control.Results:Compared with untreated DCs

the DCs co-cultured with HCC appeared to be suppressed in gene transcription activity and energy status.The results of western blotting further demonstrated the NF-κB transcription factors of DCs treated with HCC were inhibited by tumor-derived factors.Conclusion:HCC can inhibit the gene transcription activity and energy status.The ratio of absorption intensity of FT-IR at given wave numbers is markedly correlative with the expression of NF-κB.Clinically

these results may lay the foundation for the application of FT-IR to the analyses of DCs functional status in cellular immune therapy against cancer.