AUTHOR=Zhang Xin , Wang Dong , Li Zhidong , Jiao Defeng , Jin Linlin , Cong Jingjing , Zheng Xiaohu , Xu Lijun 

TITLE=Low-Dose Gemcitabine Treatment Enhances Immunogenicity and Natural Killer Cell-Driven Tumor Immunity in Lung Cancer

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2020

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2020.00331

DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2020.00331

ISSN=1664-3224

ABSTRACT=Gemcitabine has been used as first-line chemotherapy against lung cancer, but many patients experience cancer recurrence. Activation of anti-tumor immunity in vivo has become an important way to prevent recurrence. Anti-tumor immune responses are often dependent upon the immunogenicity of tumors. In our study, we observed that low-dose gemcitabine treatment enhanced the immunogenicity of lung cancer by increasing the exposure of calreticulin, high mobility group box 1 and upregulating expression of NKG2D ligands. Further studies demonstrated that low-dose gemcitabine treatment increased interferon-γ expression and NK-cell activation in mice. Low-dose gemcitabine treatment was sufficient for inhibiting tumor growth with few side effects in vivo. These data suggest that low-dose gemcitabine-induced immunochemotherapy activated antitumor immunity in immunocompetent patients.