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Cellular Suicide Therapy of Malignant Disease

Northwestern University School of Medicine and The Robert H. Lurie Cancer Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA, and Human Gene Therapy Research Institute, Des Moines, Iowa, USA,

Correspondence: Richard K Burt, M.D., Northwestern University School of Medicine, BMT Office, Wesley Pavilion, Rm. 1456, 250 East Superior, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. Telephone: 312-908-5400; Fax: 312-908-8885; e-mail: rburt{at}nwu.edu

Adoptive cellular therapy is developing as a supplement or alternative to chemotherapy and/or radiation for malignant disease. Our focus is two ongoing clinical studies with transgeneic (genetically altered) cellular therapy; one uses allogeneic (from another person) lymphocytes to treat leukemia, and the second uses xenogeneic (from another species) fibroblast cells genetically altered to contain a toxin-producing suicide gene to treat ovarian cancer.

Allogeneic donor lymphocyte infusions (DLI) are known to induce remission of hematologic malignancies. However, the toxicity associated with DLI is related to graft-versus-host-disease, which is due to donor lymphocytes attacking normal tissue in the recipient. Therefore, we have taken the approach of infusing DLI that have been modified to contain a latent suicide gene to treat leukemia.

To treat ovarian cancer, we used xenogeneic nonimmune fibroblast-derived cells to deliver a tumor-directed cytotoxic gene to carcinoma cells. These cells release HStk transgene retroviruses that in turn transduce replicating tumor cells but not quiescent epithelium, rendering the tumor selectively susceptible to ganciclovir-mediated killing.

These initial trials summarize the early stage of allogeneic/xenogeneic adoptive cellular therapy for cancer, and although the data are limited, it is encouraging to see some patients with evidence of antitumor responses. Advances in our understanding of the basic science of these treatments, together with improvements in the technology of vector design, will be required to streamline these methodologies into broader application.

Key Words. Adoptive cellular therapy • Donor lymphocyte infusion • Suicide gene • Xenogeneic • Vector-producing cells • Allogeneic

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