Exosome-Containing Preparations From Postirradiated Mouse Melanoma Cells Delay Melanoma Growth In Vivo by a Natural Killer Cell–Dependent Mechanism

To investigate the ability of radiation to stimulate exosome release from melanoma cells and to characterize the resulting exosome-containing vesicle preparations for their ability to promote a host antitumor immune response.Cultured B16F10 murine melanoma cells or tumors were irradiated, and secreted extracellular vesicles were isolated and characterized. The exosome-containing vesicle preparations were injected into fresh tumors in syngeneic mice, and tumor growth and infiltrating T cells and natural killer (NK) cells were characterized.Irradiation stimulated exosome release from B16F10 murine melanoma cells. Exosome preparations from irradiated cell culture supernatants were biologically active, as demonstrated by uptake into recipient cells and by the ability to induce dendritic cell maturation and activation in vitro. Intratumoral injection significantly delayed tumor growth in vivo, whereas injection of similar preparations from non irradiated cells had no effect. The antitumor effect was correlated to an increase in interferon gamma-producing tumor-infiltrating NK cells. Pretreatment of the host mice with anti-NK cell antibodies abolished the effect, whereas pretreatment with anti-CD8+ T-cell antibodies did not.Exosomes from irradiated cells, or synthetic mimics, might provide an effective strategy for potentiation of NK cell-mediated host antitumor immunity.