VHL-dependent alterations in the secretome of renal cell carcinoma: Association with immune cell response?

Secreted proteins could modulate the interaction between tumor, stroma and immune cells within the tumor microenvironment thereby mounting an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. In order to determine the secretome-mediated, von Hippel Lindau (VHL)-regulated cross-talk between tumor cells and T lymphocytes peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from healthy donors were either cultured in conditioned media obtained from normoxic and hypoxic human VHL-deficient renal cell carcinoma (RCC) cell line (786-0(VHL−)) and its wild type (wt) VHL-transfected counterpart (786-0(VHL+)) or directly co-cultured with both cell lines. An increased T cell proliferation was detected in the presence of 786-0(VHL+)-conditioned medium. By applying a quantitative proteomic-based approach using differential gel electrophoresis followed by mass spectrometry fourteen proteins were identified to be differentially expressed within the secretome of 786-0(VHL−) cells when compared to that of 786-0(VHL+) cells. All proteins identified were involved in multiple tumor-associated biological functions including immune responses. Functional studies on manganese superoxide dismutase 2 (MnSOD2) demonstrated that it was a regulator of T cell activation-induced oxidative signaling and cell death. Direct effects of soluble MnSOD2 on the growth properties and interleukin 2 (IL-2) secretion of T cells could be demonstrated underlining the critical role of extracellular MnSOD2 levels for T cell proliferation and activation.