Antitumor activity exhibited by Fas ligand (CD95L) overexpressed on lymphoid cells against Fas+ tumor cells

Lymph node (LN) cells of Fas-mutant mice lpr/lpr (lpr) and lprcg/lprcg (lprcg) express an increased level of Fas ligand (FasL) (CD95L). We examined the antitumor potential of cell-bound FasL on these LN cells against Fas+ tumor cells. Fas+ F6b and Fas− N1d cells were produced from murine hepatoma MH134 (Fas−) by gene transfection. lpr and lprcg LN cells inhibited growth of F6b but not N1d cells in vitro. Neither gld/gld lpr/lpr (gld/lpr) LN cells, which lack both FasL and Fas, nor wild-type LN cells showed growth-inhibitory activities against F6b and N1d cells. The effector cells and molecule were CD4−CD8− T cells and FasL, respectively. The tumor neutralization test and adoptive transfer demonstrated that lpr and lprcg, but not gld/lpr, LN cells retarded the growth of F6b cells. Although anti-Fas antibody and FasL cause severe liver failure, wild-type mice injected with lpr LN cells appeared clinically normal. Adoptive transfer of lpr LN cells to F6b-bearing mice exerted the same antitumor activity in wild-type and gld/lpr recipient mice, indicating the applicability of cell-bound FasL for Fas-mediated target therapy of cancer. These results suggest that antitumor activity was dependent on the Fas-FasL system and that lymphoid cells overexpressing FasL can be powerful antitumor effector cells against Fas+ tumor cells.