Open Access

ARTICLE

Effects of platelets on characteristics of lymphocytes cultured in vitro and optimization of adoptive immunotherapy

by CONGLIANG CHEN^#, XIAOHONG LENG^#, YU ZHANG, JUNMEI HU, DAPENG WEI, PEIPEI WANG^*, XIA WANG^*

West China School of Basic Medical Sciences and Forensic Medicine, Department of Immunology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

* Corresponding Authors: PEIPEI WANG. Email: ; XIA WANG. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Extracellular Vesicles and Cancer)

BIOCELL 2023, 47(12), 2661-2669. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2023.043084

Received 21 June 2023; Accepted 09 October 2023; Issue published 27 December 2023

Abstract

Background: T lymphocytes, the main participants of cellular immunity, can express a variety of surface molecules and form different lymphocyte subsets under the induction of different factors to play the functions of immune regulation and immune killing. Studies have shown that platelets play a crucial role in maintaining the stable differentiation of lymphocytes and the balance in immunomodulation. Therefore, it is necessary to study the effect of platelets on lymphocytes in vitro to better understand the role of platelets in the immune system and broaden the application of adoptive immunotherapy. Methods: Cell counting and microscopic observation were used to detect the effect of activated platelets on lymphocyte proliferation in vitro; Flow cytometry was used to detect whether changes in platelet activity affect the proportion of lymphocyte subpopulations in vitro, and to detect differences in the expression of granzyme B; lactate dehydrogenase assay (LDH) was used to determine the difference in lymphocyte killing activity caused by platelet activity in vitro. Results: This was the first to promote lymphocyte proliferation through the expression or release of certain molecules in vitro, demonstrating that platelet activation is one of the key factors. Secondly, activated platelets or inactivated platelets promoted lymphocyte subset differentiation by enhancing the proportion of CD3⁺CD8⁺ T lymphocytes (CTL cells) but had a slight effect on the proportion of CD3⁺CD4⁺ T (Th cells) and CD4⁺CD25⁺ T lymphocytes (Treg cells). Then, it was found that either activated platelets or inactivated platelets down-regulated the proportion of natural killer (NK)T lymphocytes, while activated platelets significantly enhance the proportion of NK lymphocytes. Therefore, by further detecting the killing activity of PBMCs treated with platelets, it was found that activated platelets promoted the extensive anti-tumor activity of lymphocytes and significantly increased the expression of granzyme B. Conclusion: Our results suggest that activated platelets promote lymphocyte proliferation, optimize lymphocyte subpopulation ratio, and promote cytotoxic effect of lymphocytes in vitro, which may provide a new strategy for optimizing the adoptive immunotherapy culture system and improving its efficacy.

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