Rituximab and Immune Molecule Modulation in Burkitt’s Lymphoma Cell Lines

Authors

  • Rebecca Quilty Memorial University of Newfoundland
  • Kendra Smith Memorial University of Newfoundland
  • David Jones Memorial University of Newfoundland
  • Sheila Drover Memorial University of Newfoundland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18192/uojm.v9i1.4160

Keywords:

Immunotherapy, immune molecules, rituximab, Burkitt's lymphoma

Abstract

Objectives: Burkitt’s lymphoma is an aggressive B cell malignancy that is associated with EBV infection. The monoclonal antibody rituximab is used to treat many B cell malignancies, including Burkitt’s lymphoma. Studying immune molecule modulation in Burkitt’s lymphoma allows insight on developing new or refining existing immunotherapy agents for refractory or chemotherapy-resistant patients. The main purpose of this study was to explore rituximab’s impact on expression of immune molecules associated with immune activation or immune inhibition.

Methods: Burkitt’s lymphoma cell lines Raji, Ramos, Bjab, and an EBV-transformed B cell line, COX, were cultured and treated with an optimally-determined concentration of rituximab or human IgG for 24 hours. Immune modulation was determined by flow cytometric analysis of HLA-I, HLA-DR, PD-L1, and CD40. Three experiments were conducted for Raji, Ramos, Bjab, while 2 experiments were conducted for COX.

Results: Treatment of cells with rituximab, 10 µg/ml, completed downregulated CD20 expression and modulated expression of immune molecules. Compared to human IgG control, rituximab treatment decreased HLA-1, HLA-DR and CD40 expression on all cell lines, but significantly only for HLA-I on Bjab. Interestingly, the immune inhibitor PD-L1 was decreased on EBV-positive COX and Raji, but increased on EBV-negative Ramos and Bjab.

Conclusion: Downregulation of HLA-I could contribute to an immune escape mechanism. As this was a small study, there is limited transferability of the results to the clinical setting and further experiments are needed.

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Published

2019-05-17

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 1 (2019): Medical Innovations

Section

Original Research

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