Retroviral-mediated transfer of genes encoding interleukin-2 and interleukin-12 into fibroblasts increases host antitumor responsiveness.

The transfer of genes encoding cytokines into tumor cells has emerged as a new strategy to increase in vivo host reactivity to a variety of tumors. Because gene transfer into tumor cells cannot be easily applied in the clinical setting, we have developed an experimental model of gene transfer into fibroblasts and examined the capacity of these engineered cells to elicit an antitumor immune response. Interleukin-12 (IL-12) is a heterodimeric cytokine with pleiotropic activities presenting strong antitumor and antimetastatic effects in murine models. A bicistronic retroviral vector was constructed that contained the cDNAs encoding both chains (p40 and p35) of murine IL-12 separated by an internal ribosomal entry site sequence. Syngeneic cutaneous fibroblasts obtained from newborn mice and transduced to secrete either IL-12 or IL-2 were injected subcutaneously with B16F0 or B16F1 melanoma cells. The time of tumor occurrence and overall survival of mice were significantly prolonged when B16F1 cells were coinjected with cytokine-producing fibroblasts compared with B16F1 alone or B16F1 together with unmanipulated fibroblasts. Systemic effects were seen in the mice injected with either IL-2- or IL-12-secreting fibroblasts, with the highest proliferation capability and interferon-gamma production observed in vitro from splenocytes from recipients of IL-2-secreting fibroblasts. Injection of IL-2-secreting fibroblasts or coinjection of IL-2- and IL-12-producing fibroblasts resulted in a significant increase of survival in the B16F0 model; in some cases, complete disease eradication was observed. These results suggest that cutaneous fibroblasts represent a target of choice for gene transfer and would be useful in the treatment of minimal residual disease in humans.     

CD自杀基因联合淋巴细胞趋化因子基因疗法的肿瘤治疗作用及免疫机理研究

本研究以腺病毒作为载体,将大肠杆菌胞嘧啶脱氨酶(CD)基因与小鼠淋巴细胞趋化因子(Ltn)基因体内联合转染,观察了其抗肿瘤效应并分析了免疫机理.小鼠皮下接种结肠腺癌CT26细胞后3天,肿瘤局部注射表达Ltn的重组腺病毒AdLtn和表达CD的重组腺病毒AdCD,然后连续10天给予5一氟胞嘧啶(5-FC)300mg/kg进行治疗,结果表明,联合治疗组荷瘤小鼠皮下肿瘤结节的生长受到明显抑制,小鼠存活期明显长于单用AdLtn治疗组或单用AdCD/5-FC治疗组.经联合治疗后小鼠脾细胞的NK活性和对(37结肠腺癌细胞的CTL杀伤活性明显增强.瘤体细胞FACS分析结果表明,经联合基因治疗后,肿瘤组织CD4~ 、CD8~ 细胞浸润增加,结肠腺癌细胞表达H-2Kd和B7-1分子明显增加.提示经CD自杀基因和Ltn基因联合治疗后,肿瘤细胞免疫原性增加.本研究结果表明联合应用自杀基因和Ltn基因治疗可以提高机体对肿瘤细胞免疫的应答,增加机体的抗肿瘤作用,是肿瘤基因治疗中一条新的途径.     

联合应用新城疫病毒及其 HN基因对小鼠黑色素瘤抑制效应的研究

背景与目的:尽管新城疫病毒( Newcastle disease virus, NDV)对多种肿瘤具有抑制作用 ,但其抑瘤机制尚不完全清楚.以前的研究结果表明,该病毒的血凝素神经氨酸酶( hemagglutinin-neuraminidase,HN)基因在该病毒的抗肿瘤作用上发挥重要作用且 HN蛋白表达后能够定位于肿瘤细胞膜上,以 HN蛋白作为肿瘤细胞的外源抗原来研究其抑瘤作用尚未见报道.本研究拟探讨 HN蛋白作为外源抗原在新城疫病毒抗肿瘤的作用以及二者联合应用对小鼠黑色素瘤的抑制效应.方法:在 C57BL/6小鼠右后肢皮下接种 B16黑色素瘤细胞 2× 105个.荷瘤第 2天,左后肢肌肉注射含新城疫病毒 HN基因的重组质粒,荷瘤第 7天,瘤内注射新城疫病毒 2× 109pfu;同时设单独 HN基因或 NDV治疗组及注射 PBS的对照组.通过抑瘤率观察动物体内的抑瘤效果;通过特异性细胞毒 T淋巴细胞( cytotoxic T lymphocyte,CTL)实验, ICAM Ⅰ、 CD48及新城疫病毒 HN蛋白在肿瘤细胞表面表达检测,探讨 HN蛋白所介导的抑瘤作用.结果:联合应用新城疫病毒及该病毒 HN基因对肿瘤的抑制效果明显好于单独 HN基因及新城疫病毒,抑瘤率达 82.8%,特异性 CTL反应增强,对靶细胞的杀伤率为 18.4%;单独 HN基因及新城疫病毒治疗组的抑瘤率分别为 56.6%、 41.0%,特异性 CTL活性分别为 4.4%、 10.1%;瘤内注射 NDV的肿瘤细胞表面检测到 HN分子的表达, ICAM Ⅰ、 CD48分子表达上调.结论:定位于肿瘤细胞表面的 HN蛋白介导机体对肿瘤细胞的特异性杀伤,联合应用新城疫病毒及该病毒 HN基因显著增强了机体对肿瘤细胞的杀伤效应.     

Heat-directed suicide gene therapy mediated by heat shock protein promoter for gastric cancer

The prognosis of patients with metastatic gastric cancer, particularly peritoneal carcinomatosis, remains poor despite intensive interventions. Gene therapy and hyperthermia can be promising strategies for such advanced disease. The study was conducted to explore the possible effective therapeutic approach of suicide gene therapy with herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-tk) in combination with hyperthermia for advanced gastric cancer. The heat shock protein (hsp) 70B gene promoter-oriented HSV-tk (HSP-tk)/ganciclovir (GCV) system directed by heat shock was developed. Hsp promoter activity under the control of heating was assessed by dual luciferase assay in gastric cancer cell lines and implanted tumors of nude mice. In vitro cytotoxic assay was performed using the HSP-tk/GCV delivered by the hemagglutinating virus of Japan (HVJ) liposome, with or without heating. Mice with subcutaneously xenografted tumors and peritoneal carcinomatosis were treated with hyperthermia and gene therapy using the HVJ-liposome-carrying HSP-tk. Assessment by luciferase assay demonstrated highly inducible and tumor-specific promoter activity in vitro and in vivo. Cytotoxic assays showed that cells transfected with HSP-tk became more sensitive to GCV with heating. A synergistic effect was also observed when treated with a non-heat-inducible cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter-mediated HSV-tk/GCV and heating, indicating bystander killing. The HVJ-liposome-carrying HSP-tk/GCV combined with hyperthermia significantly inhibited the growth of subcutaneous tumors and prolonged survival of mice with peritoneal carcinomatosis. We conclude that the combination of suicide gene therapy with hyperthermia can provide a promising treatment modality for advanced gastric cancer.     

腺病毒介导的胞嘧啶脱氨酶自杀基因联合IL-2基因疗法的肿瘤治疗作用及免疫机理分析

目的以腺病毒作为载体，将大肠杆菌胞嘧啶脱氨酶（ＣＤ）基因与小鼠ＩＬ－２基因联合转移，研究其体内抗肿瘤作用及免疫机理。方法小鼠皮下接种黑色素瘤Ｂ１６Ｆ１０细胞后３天，肿瘤局部注射表达ＩＬ－２的重组腺病毒ＡｄＩＬ－２和表达ＣＤ的重组腺病毒ＡｄＣＤ，然后连续１０天给予５－氟胞嘧啶（５－Ｆｃ）３００ｍｇ／ｋｇ进行治疗。结果联合治疗组荷瘤小鼠皮下肿瘤结节的生长明显受到抑制，小鼠存活期明显长于ＡｄＩＬ－２、ＡｄＣＤ／５－Ｆｃ、ＡｄｌａｃＺ／５－Ｆｃ或ＰＢＳ组。经联合治疗后，小鼠脾细胞的ＮＫ活性和ＣＴＬ杀伤活性明显增强；肿瘤瘤体内ＣＤ４、ＣＤ８细胞浸润增加；肿瘤细胞表达Ｈ－２Ｋｂ和Ｂ７－１分子明显增加。结论联合应用自杀基因和ＩＬ－２基因治疗，一方面可以明显抑制荷瘤小鼠肿瘤生长，另一方面可以提高机体对肿瘤细胞免疫应答，增加机体的抗肿瘤作用，是肿瘤基因治疗中一条行之有效的途径。     

Efficient inducation of local and systemic antitumor immune response by liposome-mediated intratumoral co-transfer of interleukin-2 gene and interleukin-6 gene.

Interleukin 2 (IL-2) expressing plasmid and interleukin 6 (IL-6)-expressing plasmid were encapsulated in liposome and administrated intratumoraly into tumor-bearing mice 4 days after subcutaneous inoculation of B16F10 melanoma cells. The results showed that treatment of tumor-bearing mice with IL-2 gene or IL-6 gene transfer inhibited the growth of subcutaneous tumor and prolonged the survival of tumor-bearing mice significantly when compared with the treatment of PBS or control gene transfer mediated by liposome (P < 0.01). Combined transfer of IL-2 gene and IL-6 gene was found to elicit inhibitory effects on the growth of B16F10 tumor more significantly and prolonged the survival period of tumor-bearing mice more obviously. We investigated the local immunity in tumor microenvironment and found that IL-2 and IL-6 gene transfer could significantly increase the expression of lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1 on tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) and MHC-I molecule on tumor cells freshly isolated from the tumor mass. The NK and CTL activity of TIL increased markedly after the combined transfer of these two cytokine genes. We also observed the systemic antitumor immune response in the tumor-bearing mice and demonstrated that NK and CTL activity of splenocytes and the production of IL-2, tumor necrosis factor and interferon-gamma from splenocytes increased obviously in mice after the combined transfer of IL-2 and IL-6 gene. In conclusion, local and systemic antitumor immunity of the tumor-bearing host could be induced efficiently after the combined gene transfer. The enhanced specific and non-specific antitumor immunity might be responsible for the more potent antitumor effects of the combined gene therapy.     

腺病毒介导的胞嘧啶脱氨酶自杀基因联合IL—2基因疗法的肿瘤治 …

以腺病毒作为载体,将大肠杆菌胞嘧啶脱氨酶基因与小鼠ＩＬ－２基因联合转移,研究其体内抗肿瘤作用及免疫机理。方法小鼠皮下接种黑色素瘤Ｂ１６Ｆ１０细胞后３天,肿瘤局部 注射表达ＩＬ－２的重要腺病毒ＡｄＩＬ－２和表达的ＣＤ的重组腺病毒ＡｄＣＤ,然后连续０天给予５－氟胞嘧啶３００ｍｇ／ｋｇ进行治疗。     

Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor and interleukin-2 fusion cDNA for cancer gene immunotherapy

Genetic engineering of tumor cells to express both granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and interleukin (IL)-2 can induce synergistic immune antitumor effects. Paradoxically, the combination has also been reported to down-regulate certain immune functions, highlighting the unpredictability of dual cytokine use. We hypothesized that a GM-CSF and IL-2 fusion transgene (GIFT) could circumvent such limitations yet preserve synergistic features. We designed a fusion cDNA of murine GM-CSF and IL-2. Protein structure computer modeling of GIFT protein predicted for intact ligand binding domains for both cytokines. B16 mouse melanoma cells were gene modified to express GIFT (B16GIFT), and these cells were unable to form tumors in C57bl/6 mice. Irradiated B16GIFT whole-cell tumor vaccine could also induce absolute protective immunity against challenge by live B16 cells. In mice with established melanoma, B16GIFT therapeutic cellular vaccine significantly improved tumor-free survival when compared with B16 expressing both IL-2 and GM-CSF. We show that GIFT induced a significantly greater tumor site recruitment of macrophages than combined GM-CSF and IL-2 and that macrophage recruitment arises from novel chemotactic feature of GIFT. In contrast to suppression by GM-CSF of natural killer (NK) cell recruitment despite coexpression of IL-2, GIFT leads to significant functional NK cell infiltration as confirmed in NK-defective beige mice. In conclusion, we demonstrated that a fusion between GM-CSF and IL-2 can invoke greater antitumor effect than both cytokines in combination, and novel immunobiological properties can arise from such chimeric constructs.     

Immunization against endogenous retroviral tumor-associated antigens.

Endogenous retroviral gene products have been found in some human tumors, and therefore, may serve as antigens for immunotherapy approaches. The murine colorectal carcinoma CT26 and melanoma B16 have recently been found to express the endogenous retroviral gene products gp70 and p15E, respectively, that can serve as antigens recognized by T cells. To date, though, there has been no demonstration of tumor treatment using an endogenous retroviral protein. In this study, we demonstrate that mice immunized with recombinant vaccinia encoding the gp70 H2-L(d)-restricted minimal determinant were protected from CT26 tumor challenge. Splenocytes from mice immunized with vaccinia gp70 specifically secreted IFN-gamma in response to gp70 peptide-pulsed stimulators. Although this strategy could protect against subsequent tumor challenge, it was ineffective against established tumors. Therefore, to investigate the treatment of established CT26 or B16 lung metastases, mice were treated with cultured dendritic cells (DCs) pulsed with gp70 or p15E peptide. Significant inhibition of established lung metastases required immunization with peptide-pulsed DCs pretreated with CD40 ligand that has been demonstrated to increase the T-cell stimulatory activity of DCs. The ability to immunize against endogenous retroviral tumor antigens may have relevance in the induction of antitumor immunity for some human cancers.     

SCF或（和）GM—CSF体内基因转染对“自杀基因”疗法抗肿瘤作用的增？…

目的 通过增强体内抗原提呈功能提高“自杀基因”疗法疗效,探讨其相关免疫学机理。方法 采用腺病毒介导的ＳＣＦ,ＧＭ－ＣＳＦ基因体内转染联合ＣＤ／５ＦＣ“自杀基因”疗法治疗小鼠的ＣＴ２６结肠腺癌,观察肿瘤的生长和荷瘤小鼠的存活期,不同方法所诱导的ＣＴＬ杀伤活性及肿瘤局部的细胞因子表达。结果 一次性低剂量腺病毒介导的ｍＧＭ－ＣＳＦ或（和）ｍＳＣＦ基因的体内转染,能增强“自杀基因”疗法的疗效,在肿瘤局部出     

Intratumor injection of oncolytic adenovirus expressing HSP70 prolonged survival in melanoma B16 bearing mice by enhanced immune response

Heat shock proteins (HSPs) possess potent antitumor ability to stimulate immune response. We postulated that intratumor injection of oncolytic adenovirus over-expressing HSPs might be able to exert antitumor activity by inducing antitumor immune response in immunocompetent hosts in addition to the oncolytic activity. In this study, two recombinant oncolytic adenoviruses, Ad.CMV.HSP.IRES.E1a and Ad.CMV.IRES.E1a, were constructed with or without the HSP expression cassette. The HSP expression and cytopathic killing effect in mouse B16 melanoma and human PLC/PRF/5 hepatoma cells were measured after in vitro infection of adenoviruses. Survival rate of immunocompetent C57/BL mice was observed following intratumor injection of recombinant adenoviruses in B16 melanoma xenograft models. To detect the evidence of immune responses, hematoxylin and eosin staining and RT-PCR for IFN-gamma expression in tumor tissues were performed. The Ad.CMV.HSP.IRES.E1a induced significantly higher HSP expression level than Ad.CMV.IRES.E1a in both B16 and PLC/ PRF/5 cells. The cytocidal efficacy of Ad.CMV.HSP.IRES.E1a and Ad.CMV.IRES.E1a in PLC/PRF/5 cells was much higher than that in B16 cells, where the two adenoviruses showed similarly very weak oncolytic effect in vitro. However, Ad.CMV.HSP.IRES. E1a improved animal survival rate and exhibited more potent anti-tumor efficiency than Ad.CMV.IRES.E1a in B16 xenograft models. The enhanced efficacy might be mainly attributed to the HSP-mediated immune activity, as evidenced by the up-regulated expression of IFN-gamma and local heavier intratumor inflammatory cell infiltration. These results indicated that the recombinant oncolytic adenovirus over-expressing HSPs possessed powerful in vivo anti-tumor efficacy and might be a valuable approach for cancer immune gene therapy.     

Potent antitumor effect elicited by superantigen-linked tumor cells transduced with heat shock protein 70 gene

Heat shock proteins (HSP) induce antitumor-specific immunity via a unique mechanism, but HSP alone fails to produce a satisfactory antitumor efficacy. We considered that the potent immune-activation of superantigen (SAg) might assist HSP to elicit a strong tumor-antigen-specific immunity. We initially prepared B16 melanoma cells linked to SAg SEA via a fusion protein with a trans-membrane sequence (TM), and demonstrated that SEA thus anchored on the tumor cell surface could elicit strong antitumor immunity. We then prepared cells transduced with an inducible heat shock protein 70 (HSP70 ) gene, and bearing SEA-TM fusion protein on the cell surface, and used these cells as a dual-modified vaccine. In this study, either in a therapeutic setting or in a pre-immune model, the SEA-anchored vaccine or the HSP70 gene-modified vaccine induced marked tumor suppression, prolonged survival, augmented lymphocyte proliferation and higher NK and CTL activity in C57BL/6 mice compared with their controls ( P <0.01), though they were less effective than the dual-modified vaccine. Among these vaccines, the dual-modified vaccine showed the best therapeutic efficacy in B16 melanoma-bearing mice and gave the greatest protection against wild-type B16 melanoma challenge. The results indicated that the dual-modified vaccine could induce a potent tumor-antigen-specific immune response in addition to an increase of non-specific immunity. This study offers a novel approach to bridging specific and non-specific immunity for cancer therapy.     

Adenovirus vector-mediated in vivo gene transfer of OX40 ligand to tumor cells enhances antitumor immunity of tumor-bearing hosts

OX40 ligand (OX40L), the ligand for OX40 on activated CD4+ T cells, has adjuvant properties for establishing effective T-cell immunity, a potent effector arm of the immune system against cancer. The hypothesis of this study is that in vivo genetic engineering of tumor cells to express OX40L will stimulate tumor-specific T cells by the OX40L-OX40 engagement, leading to an induction of systemic antitumor immunity. To investigate this hypothesis, s.c. established tumors of three different mouse cancer cells (B16 melanoma, H-2b; Lewis lung carcinoma, H-2b; and Colon-26 colon adenocarcinoma, H-2d) were treated with intratumoral injection of a recombinant adenovirus vector expressing mouse OX40L (AdOX40L). In all tumor models tested, treatment of tumor-bearing mice with AdOX40L induced a significant suppression of tumor growth along with survival advantages in the treated mice. The in vivo AdOX40L modification of tumors evoked tumor-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes in the treated host correlated with in vivo priming of T helper 1 immune responses in a tumor-specific manner. Consistent with the finding, the antitumor effect provided by intratumoral injection of AdOX40L was completely abrogated in a CD4+ T cell-deficient or CD8+ T cell-deficient condition. In addition, ex vivo AdOX40L-transduced B16 cells also elicited B16-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses, and significantly suppressed the B16 tumor growth in the immunization-challenge experiment. All of these results support the concept that genetic modification of tumor cells with a recombinant OX40L adenovirus vector may be of benefit in cancer immunotherapy protocols.     

锚定表达GM-CSF疫苗的抑瘤效果研究

子宫颈癌是妇科比较常见的恶性肿瘤之一,其病因及发病机制不清.近年来,随着细胞分子生物学研究的深入,发现肿瘤的发生发展不仅取决于细胞的增殖速率,而且与细胞凋亡有一定关系,本实验通过对宫颈癌组织芯片进行凋亡相关基因bag-1检测,探讨宫颈癌的发病机制.Bag-1是一种已经被确认的多功能结合蛋白,具有抗细胞凋亡的能力,该蛋白质为一种由219个氨基酸残基组成的酸性蛋白质.     

Synergistic effects of genetically engineered stem cells expressing cytosine deaminase and interferon-β via their tumor tropism to selectively target human hepatocarcinoma cells

Stem cells have received a great deal of attention for their clinical and therapeutic potential for treating human diseases and disorders. Recent studies have shown that it is possible to genetically engineered stem cells (GESTECs) to produce suicide enzymes that convert non-toxic prodrugs to toxic metabolites, selectively migrate toward tumor sites and reduce tumor growth. In this study, we evaluated whether these GESTECs are capable of migrating to hepatocarcinoma cells and examined the potential therapeutic efficacy of gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy against liver cancer cells in cellular and animal models. A modified transwell migration assay was performed to determine the migratory capacity of GESTECs to Hep3B hepatocarcinoma cells. GESTECs, that is, HB1.F3.CD or HB1.F3.CD.interferon-β (IFN-β) cells, engineered to express a suicide gene, cytosine deaminase (CD), selectively migrated toward liver cancer cells. Treatment of Hep3B, human liver cancer cells, with the prodrug 5-fluorocytosine (5-FC) in the presence of HB1.F3.CD or HB1.F3.CD.IFN-β cells resulted in the inhibition of Hep3B cell growth. In a xenografted mouse model injected with hepatocarcinoma, we investigated the therapeutic effect of these stem cells. For 9 weeks, the xenografted mice were treated with HB1.F3.CD or HB1.F3.CD.IFN-β in the presence of 5-FC. A growth of tumor mass was inhibited about 40-50% in the mice treated with GESTECs and a prodrug. In addition, we further confirmed the cytotoxic effect on tumor cells by histological analysis and migratory effect of therapeutic stem cells. Taken together, GESTECs expressing a fusion gene encoding CD and IFN-β may exert a synergistic antitumor effect on this type of tumor.     

射线联合嵌合启动子介导的自杀基因对肿瘤细胞的靶向杀伤作用

目的 探讨放射线联合新型嵌合启动子介导辣根过氧化物酶/吲哚乙酸(HRP/IAA)自杀基因系统特异高效的抗肿瘤作用.方法 构建含有4个串联放射反应元件CArG、含或不含巨细胞病毒(CMV)启动子的人端粒酶逆转录酶嵌合启动子,筛选肿瘤特异性及放射诱导性强的嵌合启动子,下游连接自杀基因辣根过氧化物酶(HRP),检测放射线联合基因治疗对肿瘤细胞HeLa、A549和MHCC97增殖及凋亡的影响.结果 人胚肺成纤维细胞MRC-5中C4-hTC嵌合启动子的活性(0.1±0.0)明显低于肿瘤细胞株HeLa、A549和MHCC97(0.6±0.0、1.1±0.1和1.0±0.1,P＜0.01),经过6 Gy射线诱导后,这种差异更加显著(活性分别为0.2±0.1、1.7±0.2、2.3±0.2和2.3±0.1,P＜0.01).在肿瘤细胞株HeLa、A549和MHCC97中,嵌合启动子C4-hTC-HRP携带的自杀基因系统SER值分别为2.64、2.75和2.82,显著高于单纯hTERT启动子.在肿瘤细胞中,除阴性对照质粒pGL3-control-Luc外,自杀基因与放射治疗相联合对肿瘤细胞的生长抑制明显高于单一治疗方法,而联合组中pC4-hTC-HRP/IAA系统与放射联合的生长抑制作用最显著,对HeLa、A549和MHCC97细胞的生长抑制率分别为67.3%、69.0%和64.6%.在肿瘤细胞中,除阴性对照质粒pGL3-control-Luc外,联合组诱导的早期凋亡率明显高于单一治疗方法组,其中pC4-hTC-HRP/IAA系统与放射联合诱导的凋亡率最高,HeLa、A549和MHCC97细胞凋亡率分别为39.6%、33.0%和33.2%.结论 新型嵌合启动子C4-hTC具有良好的肿瘤特异性及放射诱导性,放射线联合基因治疗对肿瘤细胞具有特异高效的杀伤作用,在肿瘤的基因放疗中具有较强的应用潜力.

Abstract：

Objective To explore the synergistic anti-tumor effect of radiotherapy and horseradish peroxidase/prodrug indole-3-acetic acid (HRP/IAA) gene therapy system using chimeric hTERT promoter responsive to ionizing radiation.Methods The synthetic hTERT promoters containing four tandem-repeat copies of radio-inducible CArG elements, and the chimeric promoter containing cytomegalovirus (CMV)early promoter were both constructed.The activities of the chimeric promoters in cancer cell lines ( HeLa,A549, and MHCC97 ) and normal cell line ( MRC-5 ) were detected using luciferase reporter gene expression analysis after a 60 Co γ-irradiation treatment at a series of doses (a single dose of 0 to 10 Gy).The anti-tumor effect of combining irradiation with HRP/IAA gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy system controlled by the chimeric promoter was tested by colony formation assay, cell counting and apoptosis analysis.Results The chimeric promoters were ineffective in normal human cells, even after irradiation, but the expression of luciferase gene in tumor cells was significantly higher.The activity of the chimeric promoter in MRC-5 cells was 22.3%, 12.9% and 13.6% of that in HeLa, A549 and MHCC97 cells, respectively.After irradiation,the ratios were 11.7%, 8.7% and 8.8%, respectively.Furthermore, the chimeric promoters could successfully induce the expression of luciferase gene following different doses of radiation, with maximal inducible activity seen after 6 Gy irradiation.The chimeric promoter containing four tandem-repeat copies of radio-inducible CArG elements and CMV early promoter showed the highest activity with 6 Gy irradiation.The relative luciferase activities in HeLa, A549 and MHCC97 cells were 1.7 ± 0.2, 2.3 ± 0.2 and 2.3±0.1, respectively.The chimeric promoter mediated suicide gene therapy system could increase radiosensitivity in different cancer cells.Compared with the control system, it plus irradiation showed stronger cell proliferation inhibition, 67.3% vs.26.1% in HeLa, 69.0% vs.28.3% in A549, 64.6% vs.20.8% in MHCC97 cells, and also higher apoptosis-inducing effect, 39.6% vs.14.2% in HeLa, 33.0% vs.12.4%in A549, and 33.2% vs.14.2% in MHCC97 cells.Conclusions Chimeric promoter containing hTERT promoter, CArG elements and CMV promoter preserve the tumor-specificity in telomerase-positive tumor cells, and irradiation-responsive to low dose of radiation.The suicide gene therapy using this promoter plus radiotherapy show a strong anti-tumor effect in vitro.It is expected to have a good potential for future application in gene radiotherapy.     

Combined suicide and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor gene therapy induces complete tumor regression and generates antitumor immunity

The use of prodrug-activated ("suicide") gene therapy has been shown to be effective in inducing tumor regression when only a small proportion of tumor cells contains the suicide gene. These experiments were designed to test whether additional therapeutic benefit may be obtained by stimulating the immune response. Murine MC26 colon carcinoma cells, either untransduced or transduced with genes for herpes simplex virus-1 thymidine kinase (HSV1-TK) or human GM-CSF, were injected subcutaneously into syngeneic BALB/c mice in various combinations. Inoculation of equal numbers of untransduced and HSV1-TK-containing cells followed by ganciclovir (GCV) treatment resulted in almost complete tumor regression, but by 7 weeks, tumors had recurred in all mice. A similar initial regression was obtained using equal numbers of cells containing HSV1-TK and GM-CSF genes, but >80% of these mice remained tumor-free after 3 months. Groups of tumor-free mice that had received GM-CSF-containing cells were left for different periods of time and rechallenged with unmodified MC26 cells on the opposite flank. Of the mice rechallenged 14, 28, and 108 days later, 100%, 88%, and 57%, respectively, showed complete resistance to unmodified tumor cells. In mice that showed tumor regrowth, tumor volume was much less than in control mice. Adoptive transfer of spleen cells from resistant mice to na?ve syngeneic mice resulted in partial resistance to challenge with unmodified tumor cells. Specific cytotoxicity against MC26 cells was only demonstrable in mice receiving GM-CSF- and HSV1-TK-containing tumor cells. These experiments show that the presence of cells secreting GM-CSF in HSV1-TK-containing, regressing tumor is able to induce complete or partial resistance to tumor rechallenge. This indicates the potential usefulness of GM-CSF in enhancing other antitumor therapies.     

Coexpression of CD40L and CD70 by semiallogenic tumor cells induces anti-tumor immunity

The immune system is potentially qualified to detect and eliminate tumor cells, but various mechanisms developed by tumor cells allow tumor escape. Strategies selected to promote antitumor responses have included genetic modifications of tumor cells to induce expression of costimulatory molecules. Moreover, alloantigens can also act as strong enhancers of the immune response. In this work, we have associated the expression of two costimulatory members of the TNF superfamily, CD40L and CD70 along with an allogenic MHC Class I (H-2K(d)) molecule expression on melanoma cells (B16F10, H-2(b)) to favor the antitumor immune response. B16F10 tumor growth slows significantly when CD40L and CD70 are coexpressed by tumor cells and the association with the allogenic molecule (H-2K(d)) enhances this effect. Growth kinetics of mock and CD40L-CD70-H-2K(d)-expressing B16F10 tumors in immunocompetent versus nu/nu and beige mice suggested that CD8(+) T lymphocytes and NK cells were involved in this antitumor immunity. A delay in mock tumor growth was observed when CD40L-CD70-H-2K(d)-expressing B16F10 cells and mock tumor cells were injected simultaneously and contralaterally. It was also shown that in vivo immunization of immunocompetent mice with CD40L-CD70-H-2K(d) B16F10 tumor cells improved the generation of cytotoxic lymphocytes against the wild-type melanoma cells expressing the syngenic MHC Class I molecule H-2K(b) (B16K1). These observations lay a path for new immunotherapeutic trials using semiallogenic fibroblasts expressing costimulatory molecules and tumor-associated antigens.     

Optimal amount of monocyte chemoattractant protein‐1 enhances antitumor effects of suicide gene therapy against hepatocellular carcinoma by M1 macrophage activation

Suicide gene therapy combined with chemokines provides significant antitumor efficacy. Coexpression of suicide gene and monocyte chemoattractant protein‐1 (MCP‐1) increases antitumor effects in murine models of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and colon cancer. However, it is unclear whether the doses administered achieved the maximum antitumor effects. We evaluated antitumor effects of various amounts of recombinant adenovirus vector (rAd) expressing MCP‐1 in the presence of a suicide gene in a murine model of HCC. HCC cells were transplanted subcutaneously into BALB/c nude mice, and transduced with a fixed amount of Ad‐tk harboring the suicide gene, HSV‐tk, and various doses of Ad‐MCP1 harboring MCP‐1 (ratios of 1:1, 0.1:1, and 0.01:1 relative to Ad‐tk). Growth of primary tumors was suppressed when treated with Ad‐tk plus Ad‐MCP1 (1:1 and 1:0.1) as compared with Ad‐tk alone. The antitumor effects against tumor rechallenge tended to be high in the Ad‐tk plus Ad‐MCP1 group (1:0.1). The effects were dependent on production of Th1 type‐cytokines. Delivery of an optimal amount of rAd expressing MCP‐1 enhanced the antitumor effects of suicide gene therapy against HCC by M1 macrophage activation, suggesting that this is a plausible form of cancer gene therapy to prevent HCC progression and recurrence. (Cancer Sci 2008; 99: 2075–2082)     

Induction of tumor antigen-specific immunity using plasmid DNA immunization in mice

We have evaluated the ability of bioballistic "gene gun" immunization of mice with plasmid DNA encoding clinically relevant tumor antigens to induce protective antitumor immunity. Mice immunized with plasmid cDNA encoding the cervical carcinoma-associated human papillomavirus 16-E7 gene product exhibited potent anti-E7-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes and were protected completely against a subsequent challenge with the E7+ C3 sarcoma. Of perhaps greater clinical interest, genetic immunization using cDNA encoding the normal, germline-encoded murine melanosomal protein tyrosinase-related protein-2 (TRP-2) resulted in delayed outgrowth of TRP-2+ B16 melanoma in mice and was associated with an in vivo activation of TRP-2-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Codelivery of plasmid cDNA encoding TRP-2 and the T helper 1-biasing cytokine murine interleukin-12 considerably enhanced the antitumor efficacy of these gene-based melanoma vaccines.