Sublethal exposure to alpha radiation ((223)Ra dichloride) enhances various carcinomas’ sensitivity to lysis by antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes through calreticulin-mediated immunogenic modulation

Radium-223 dichloride (Xofigo(®); (223)Ra) is an alpha-emitting radiopharmaceutical FDA-approved for the treatment of bone metastases in patients with advanced castration-resistant prostate cancer. It is also being examined clinically in patients with breast and lung carcinoma and patients with multiple myeloma. As with other forms of radiation, the aim of (223)Ra is to reduce tumor burden by directly killing tumor cells. External beam (photon) and proton radiation have been shown to augment tumor sensitivity to antigen-specific CD8(+) cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). However, little is known about whether treatment with (223)Ra can also induce such immunogenic modulation in tumor cells that survive irradiation. We examined these effects in vitro by exposing human prostate, breast, and lung carcinoma cells to sublethal doses of (223)Ra. (223)Ra significantly enhanced T cell-mediated lysis of each tumor type by CD8(+) CTLs specific for MUC-1, brachyury, and CEA tumor antigens. Immunofluorescence analysis revealed that the increase in CTL killing was accompanied by augmented protein expression of MHC-I and calreticulin in each tumor type, molecules that are essential for efficient antigen presentation. Enhanced tumor-cell lysis was facilitated by calreticulin surface translocation following (223)Ra exposure. The phenotypic changes observed after treatment appear to be mediated by induction of the endoplasmic reticulum stress response pathway. By rendering tumor cells more susceptible to T cell-mediated lysis, (223)Ra may potentially be effective in combination with various immunotherapies, particularly cancer vaccines that are designed to generate and expand patients’ endogenous antigen-specific T-cell populations against specific tumor antigens.