Mice with membrane Hsp70 positive syngeneic GL261 glioblastoma or human xenograft A549 lung tumors were sham-treated with PBS or injected with <i>ex vivo</i> TKD/IL-2-activated mouse/human NK cells and mouse/human PD-1 antibody either as a single regimen or in combination.
Within the heterogeneous tumor mass, CD133-positive tumor-initiating and primary glioblastoma cells showed a high membrane Hsp70 expression density, whereas endothelial cells, isolated from glioblastoma tissues only showed a weak staining pattern.
In contrast, the average HSPA mRNA copy numbers detected in glioblastoma tissue were between 1.8- and 8.8-fold higher than in lower grade glioma and control tissue, respectively, which is suggestive of a grade-related transcription profile.
Our data suggest that HSP70 translocates from cytoplasm to extracellular environment after an increase in radiation dose and HMGB1 translocates from the nucleus to the cytoplasm and subsequently is released into the extracellular space, confirming a role of these proteins as signals released after radiation-induced damage in glioblastoma cells.
The effective and specific depletion of Hsp70 by Ad.asHsp70 resulted in massive cell death of all tumorigenic cell lines tested (carcinomas of breast, colon, prostate and liver as well as glioblastoma).