Irreversible electroporation ablation overcomes tumor-associated immunosuppression to improve the efficacy of DC vaccination in a mice model of pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is associated with highly immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) that can limit the efficacy of dendritic cell (DC) vaccine immunotherapy. Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is a local ablation approach. Herein, we test the hypothesis that IRE ablation can overcome TME immunosuppression to improve the efficacy of DC vaccination using Kras^LSL-G12D-p53^LSL-R172H-Pdx-1-Cre (KPC) orthotopic mouse model of PDAC. The median survival for mice treated with the combined IRE and DC vaccination was 77 days compared with sham control (35 days), DC vaccination (49 days), and IRE (44 days) groups (P = .006). Thirty-six percent of the mice treated with combination IRE and DC vaccination were still survival at the end of the study period (90 days) without visible tumor. The changes of tumor apparent diffusion coefficient (ΔADC) were higher in mice treated with combination IRE and DC vaccination than that of other groups (all P < .001); tumor ΔADC value positively correlated with tumor fibrosis fraction (R = 0.707, P < .001). IRE induced immunogenic cell death and alleviation of immunosuppressive components in PDAC TME when combined with DC vaccination, including increased tumor infiltration of CD8⁺ T cells and Granzyme B⁺ cells (P = .001, and P = .007, respectively). Our data show that IRE ablation can overcome TME immunosuppression to improve the efficacy of DC vaccination in PDAC. Combination IRE ablation and DC vaccination may enhance therapeutic efficacy for PDAC.