Abstract
BACKGROUND: Tumor associated antigens can be viably used to enhance host immune response. OBJECTIVES: The immunomodulatory effect of biogenic selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) was compared between treated and untreated mice with crude antigens of 4T1 cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Female inbred BALB/c mice (60) were injected by cancinogenic 4T1 cells causing breast cancer. After 10 days, all tumor bearing mice were divided into 4 groups. Group 1 was daily provided oral PBS and injected by the same buffer after tumor induction and was considered as control. Group 2 received only 100 μg/day SeNPs as an oral supplement for 30 days. Group 3 was only injected with 4T1 cells crude antigens with nil supplementation of SeNPs. Group 4 animals were supplemented 100 μg/day SeNPs for 30 days and simultaneously injected with crude antigens of 4T1 cells. All antigens or PBS injections were introduced at 7, 14 and 28 days following tumor induction. Oral PBS and SeNPs supplementation initiated from the first day of tumor induction and continued up to 30 days. During tumor growth, animal weights and survival rates were monitored and at the end of the study the concentrations of different cytokines and DTH responses were measured. RESULTS: Data clearly showed that the levels of cellular immunomodulatory components (granzyme B, IL-12, IFN-γ, and IL-2) significantly increased (P < 0.05) in mice treated with both SeNPs and crude antigens of 4T1 cells in comparison to the other groups. In contrast, the levels of TGF-β in these mice decreased. CONCLUSIONS: Although SeNPs showed a noticeable boosting effect for the immune response in mice bearing tumor exposed to crude antigens of 4T1 cells, further complementary studies seem to be inevitable.