title: Immunotherapy for murine K1735 melanoma: combinatorial use of recombinant adenovirus expressing CD40L and other immunomodulators.
abstract: We have constructed and tested five recombinant adenoviruses (Ads) that express a variety of immunomodulators, including CD40 ligand (CD40L), a potent costimulator of several components of the immune system. We demonstrate that CD40L expressed from Ad in K1735 mouse melanoma cells leads to a strong reduction in tumorigenicity and to efficient protective immunity in a vaccination setting. Subsequently, using a therapeutic approach, we found that local, intratumoral coinjection of CD40L- and IL-2-expressing Ads was superior to any other agents tested and resulted in an at least 1.9-fold increase in mean survival time, in contrast to systemic application of recombinant CD40L or GM-CSF proteins, which had no significant effects. When using vaccination as a therapeutic approach, the combinations of CD40L plus IL-2 or GM-CSF plus IL-2 from Ad gave rise to an extended (2.8-fold) increase in mean survival time. A detailed analysis of immune cells present within regressing tumors indicated that mainly CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells, and to a lesser extent dendritic cells, infiltrated the tumor mass, but not NK cells, macrophages, or granulocytes. These results propose that a combination of CD40L plus IL-2 has an improved efficacy over the use of single agents when applied for direct in situ therapy or vaccination therapy.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland. hemmi@molbio.unizh.ch
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Peter
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nawrath
authors.forename: Jivko
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kamarashev
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Odermatt
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mezzacasa
authors.forename: Silvio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hemmi
mesh_terms: D000256:Adenoviridae / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D023201:CD40 Ligand / Q000235:genetics*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D015316:Genetic Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D016178:Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor / Q000378:metabolism; D006098:Granulocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007167:Immunotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000378:metabolism; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000378:metabolism; D008264:Macrophages / Q000378:metabolism; D008545:Melanoma / Q000628:therapy*; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation; D013997:Time Factors; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D019444:Vaccines, DNA
chemical_list: D007376:Interleukin-2; D019444:Vaccines, DNA; D023201:CD40 Ligand; D016178:Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor