ABSTRACT

The Effect of Anti-PD-L2 Monoclonal Antibodies on Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer cells express large amounts of PD-L2, a ligand of PD-1 that binds to PD-1 receptors on T-cells and sends “don’t eat me” signals to the T cells. Anti-PD-L2 monoclonal antibodies could prevent PD-L2 from binding and allow the T cells to properly function. Anti-PD-L2 mABs were tested on colorectal cancer cells to identify if it can cause the cancer’s growth to be inhibited. Doses of 5μl, 8μl, and 10μl of mABs were each applied to groups of flasks containing colorectal cancer cells. One group had no treatment applied, acting as the control. Initial cell counts of each flask were taken prior to applying the mABs. Cell counts were taken from there on out after one, two, three, four, and five days. Cell counts of all dose groups except the 5μl group had lessened periodically. The 5μl dose group had the lowest cell counts, becoming stagnant towards Days 4 and 5. These results demonstrate that anti-PD-L2 antibodies can be used to inhibit the growth of colorectal cancer. The results additionally show that 5μl would be the proper dose of treatment, as the growth of cancer in all 5μl flasks seemed to have stopped. With the results supporting the hypothesis, anti-PD-L2 monoclonal antibodies could act as a less harmful and more effective treatment than chemo/radiation therapy, for colorectal cancer.