Immunogenic chemotherapy: discovery of a critical protein through proteomic analyses of tumor cells

Abstract

The aim of chemotherapy and radiotherapy is to eliminate tumor cells. While the outcomes of these cytotoxic treatments have previously been assigned to their direct effects on tumor cells, recent findings have shown that the host's immune system also contributes to the success of chemotherapeutic and radiotherapeutic regimens. The finding that some cytotoxic antitumor coumpounds such as anthracyclines were capable of triggering a potent T-cell-dependent antitumor response has prompted the search for molecular determinants responsible for the immunogenicity of anthracyclines. Proteomic analyses of anthracycline-treated tumor cells have recently revealed the critical involvement of calreticulin in mediating the immunogenicity of dying tumor cells. Here, we focused on the molecular study of immunogenic chemotherapy which led to the characterization of calreticulin as a critical protein in immunogenic cancer cell death.