1-methyl-D-tryptophan (1-D-MT) is currently being used in clinical trials in patients with relapsed or refractory solid tumors with the aim of inhibiting indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase (IDO)-mediated tumor immune escape. IDO is expressed in tumors and tumor-draining lymph nodes and degrades tryptophan (trp) to create an immunsuppressive micromilieu both by depleting trp and by accumulating immunosuppressive metabolites of the kynurenine (kyn) pathway. Here we show that proliferation of alloreactive T-cells cocultured with IDO1-positive human cancer cells paradoxically was inhibited by 1-D-MT. Surprisingly incubation with 1-D-MT increased kyn production of human cancer cells. Cell-free assays revealed that 1-D-MT did not alter IDO1 enzymatic activity. Instead, 1-D-MT induced IDO1 mRNA and protein expression through pathways involving p38 MAPK and JNK signalling. Treatment of cancer patients with 1-D-MT has transcriptional effects that may promote rather than suppress anti-tumor immune escape by increasing IDO1 in the cancer cells. These off-target effects should be carefully analyzed in the ongoing clinical trials with 1-D-MT.

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The mode of action of 2-mercaptoethanol (2-ME) on the primary immune response in vitro was investigated. Fetal calf serum (FCS) was preincubated with 2-ME and lyophilized to remove free 2-ME. This 2-ME-treated FCS was able to substitute the function of adherent cells in the primary immune response against sheep red blood cells (SRBC) in vitro; Fractionation of 2-tme-treated FCS on a Sephadex G-100 column showed that 2-ME acted on a high molecular serum component which after activation, could substitute for macrophages. In order to obtain a humoral immune response against SRBC in vitro, spleen cells require selected FCS. These "good" sera could be distinguished from "deficient" sera by their higher content of this 2-ME-activated factor. The height of the in vitro immune response to SRBC was dependent on the amount of activated factor added to the culture medium. FCS normally required in the culture medium could be completely replaced by the factor-containing fraction without deleterious effect on the culture medium. The factor should be added to the spleen cells during the first 24 h of culture and remain there for 72 h in order to obtain an optimal immune response. The factor could be partially absorbed by spleen cells but not by SRBC. The relationship between macrophage, 2-ME, and FCS in eliciting an in vitro primary immune response is discussed.

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Using the technique for erythroid colony formation in vitro, bone marrow and spleen cells from NMRI mice were studied after Rauscher virus (RLV) infection. There was a substantial decrease in CFUE concentrations during the first days after infection, this being more pronounced in the marrow than in the spleen. In the marrow values gradually return to and are maintained at control levels, while in the spleen a 40-50-fold increase is seen between days 8 and 18. In normal and RLV infected animals the same dose dependence of CFUE growth for erythropoietin was seen. For normal and RLV infected cells in the absence of erythropoietin there were only very few background colonies. In exhypoxic plethoric mice the increase in CFUE concentration seen in normal mice in the spleen, is delayed by 2-3 days.