title: Death of solid tumor cells induced by Fas ligand expressing primary myoblasts.
abstract: Anticancer therapy for solid tumors suffers from inadequate methods for the localized administration of cytotoxic agents. Fas ligand (FasL) has been reported to be cytotoxic to a variety of cells, including certain tumor cell lines. We therefore postulated that myoblasts could serve as non-transformed gene therapy vehicles for the continuous localized delivery of cytotoxic anticancer agents such as FasL. However, contrary to previous reports, fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) analyses revealed that both primary mouse and human myoblasts express Fas, the receptor for FasL. To avoid self-destruction and test the cytotoxic potential of myoblasts, the cells were isolated from mice deficient in Fas (lpr/lpr), the mouse counterpart of human autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome (ALPS). These primary mouse myoblasts were transduced with a retroviral vector encoding mouse FasL and expression of a biologically active and soluble form of the molecule was confirmed by the apoptotic demise of cocultured Fas-expressing Jurkat cells, the standard in the field. To test whether the lpr myoblasts expressing FasL could be used in anticancer therapy, human rhabdomyosarcoma derived cell lines were assayed for Fas and then tested in the apoptosis coculture assay. The majority of Fas-expressing muscle tumor cells were rapidly killed. Moreover, FasL expressing myoblasts were remarkably potent; indeed well characterized cytotoxic antibodies to Fas were only 20% as efficient at killing rhabdomyosarcoma cells as FasL expressing myoblasts. These findings together with previous findings suggest that primary myoblasts, defective in Fas but genetically engineered to express FasL, could function as potent anticancer agents for use in the localized destruction of solid tumors in vivo by three synergistic mechanisms: (1) directly via Fas/FasL mediated apoptosis, (2) indirectly via neutrophil infiltration and immunodestruction, and (3) as allogeneic inducers of a bystander effect via B and T cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Pharmacology, Stanford University School of Medicine, California 94305, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hofmann
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Blau
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D018920:Coculture Techniques; D053222:Fas Ligand Protein; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D006801:Humans; D019169:Jurkat Cells; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology*; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D012208:Rhabdomyosarcoma; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D019014:fas Receptor / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: C505661:FASLG protein, human; D053222:Fas Ligand Protein; C505658:Fasl protein, mouse; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D019014:fas Receptor; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins