Inhibition of murine hepatoma tumor growth by cryptotanshinone involves TLR7-dependent activation of macrophages and induction of adaptive antitumor immune defenses

Cryptotanshinone (CT), a purified compound initially isolated from the dried roots of Salvia militorrhiza. Bunge, exhibits cytotoxic antitumor effects on many tumors. We have shown that CT possesses the dual capacities to concomitantly inhibit the proliferation of lung cancer cells and promote the generation of antitumor immunity. In this study, we investigated whether CT could be used to treat hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) using a mouse Hepa1-6 model. CT inhibited the proliferation of mouse hepatoma (Hepa1-6) cells in vitro by inducing Hepa1-6 cells apoptosis through the JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway. In addition, CT activated macrophages and polarized mouse bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMM) toward an M1 phenotype in vitro, which depended on the TLR7/MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway. Furthermore, CT significantly inhibited the growth of syngeneic Hepa1-6 hepatoma tumors, and, in combination with anti-PD-L1 cured Hepa1-6-bearing mice with the induction of long-term anti-Hepa1-6 specific immunity. Immunoprofiling of treated Hepa1-6-bearing mice revealed that CT-promoted activation of tumor-infiltrating macrophages and dendritic cells, induction of antitumor T cell response, and infiltration of effector/memory CD8 T cells in the tumor tissue. Importantly, the immunotherapeutic effects of CT and anti-PD-L1 depended on the presence of CD8 T cells. Thus, CT and anti-PD-L1 may provide an effective immunotherapeutic regimen for human HCC based on a combination of cytotoxic effects and induction of tumor-specific immunity. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s00262-019-02338-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.