Human ovarian carcinoma cells generate CD4+ CD25+ regulatory T cells from peripheral CD4+CD25- T cells through secreting TGF-β

Increased CD4(+)CD25(+) regulatory T cells predicted poor prognosis in ovarian carcinoma patients. This study aimed to define whether soluble substances secreted by ovarian carcinoma could up-regulate the proportion of CD4(+)CD25(+), regulatory T cells. Similar to TGF-P, the low MWF (<50 kDa) of supernatant derived from SKOV3 could convert part of freshly isolated CD4(+)CD25(-) T cells into CD25(+) population with similar characters as natural CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells. To deplete TGF-P in the low MWF by neutralizing anti-TGF-P would eliminate this transformation phenomenon. These results indicate that TGF-P secreted by ovarian carcinoma cells owns vital function in the process of converting peripheral CD4+CD25- T cells into CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells, which may provide one immunotherapeutic target for ovarian cancer. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.