Experimental studies on the immune regulation of fibroblast cell mediated interleukin－6 gene therapy

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Experimental studies on the immune regulation of fibroblast cell mediated interleukin-6 gene therapy

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a pleiotropic cytokine which has antitumor activity. The present study describes a model of fibroblast cell mediated IL-6 gene therapy and discusses its immune regulatory effect. Human IL-6 cDNA was inserted into plasmid vector BCMGNeo containing a neomycin resistance gene. BCMGNeo-IL-6 was transfected into NIH3T3 fibroblast cells by the calcium phosphate coprecipitation method. A fibroblast cell clone (T6.6) secreting the highest level of IL-6 was selected by G418 resistance selection and limiting dilution. When this IL-6-secreting clone was implanted ip into the mice, IL-6 was detected in the serum 12h later, and remained at a high level 96h after implantation. Lymphocyte proliferation and IL-2 production was enhanced significantly after in vivo implantation of the clone T6.6. These results demonstrated that flbroblast cell mediated IL-6 gene therapy could augment immune function efficiently, which outlines a novel strategy for cancer treatment.