HLA-G expression in human ovarian carcinoma counteracts NK cell function

Background: Human leukocyte antigen-G (HLA-G) is an important immunotolerant which could be a part of the strategies applied by malignant cells applied to avoid host immunosurveillance. Aberrant expression of HLA-G has been found in ovarian carcinoma. The aim of this study was to evaluate the HLA-G expression in ovarian cancer tissues and to explore its function in vitro. Materials and methods: HLA-G expression in 33 primary ovarian carcinoma tissues was analyzed using immunohistochemistry with the anti-HLA-G monoclonal antibody (mAb) 4H84. Furthermore, the function of HLA-G in NK cell cytotoxicity was determined in vitro by cloning and expression of HLA-G on the ovarian carcinoma cell OVCAR-3. Results: HLA-G expression was detected in 22/33 (66.7%) primary tumor tissues, but was absent in normal ovarian tissues (P < 0.01). Cytotoxicity studies showed that HLA-G expression dramatically inhibits cell lyses by NK-92 cells (P < 0.01), which could be restored by the anti-HLA-G conformational mAb 87G (P < 0.01). Conclusion: HLA-G was expressed in a significant number of primary ovarian carcinoma tissues, and HLA-G expression in OVCAR-3 could directly inhibit NK-92 cell lysis. Taken together, our results indicated that expression of HLA-G plays an important role in evasion of ovarian cancer cells from host immunosurveiilance.