High antitumor activity of RLI, an interleukin-15 (IL-15)-IL-15 receptor alpha fusion protein, in metastatic melanoma and colorectal cancer.
Interleukin (IL)-15 has an important role in tumor immunosurveillance and has a contemplated use in tumor immunotherapy. We have previously engineered the fusion protein RLI, composed of the NH(2)-terminal (amino acids 1-77, sushi+) domain of IL-15 receptor alpha coupled via a linker to IL-15, and shown that it displayed far better efficacy than IL-15 in vitro. In this report, we investigated in vivo whether RLI would be a better alternative than IL-15 and IL-2 for cancer treatment using two distinct animal models. B16F10 mouse melanoma cells were injected in C57BL/6 mice either i.v. or intrasplenically for lung or liver metastasis, respectively. HCT-116 human colorectal cancer cells were injected in the cecum of nude mice. We show that RLI has a higher efficiency than IL-15 or IL-2 to reduce lung and liver metastasis and enhance survival in the mouse B16F10 melanoma model, a result that was associated with a higher half-life in vivo. We also found that the antitumoral effect of RLI was completely abolished by in vivo depletion of natural killer cells using anti-asialoGM1 antibody. Moreover, RLI was also efficient to reduce by 50% tumor growth and the progression of metastasis of human colon carcinoma cells in an orthotopic nude mouse model. The fusion protein RLI has revealed strong anticancer effect in two different cancer models overcoming the limited effect of IL-15 by increasing its bioavailability and efficiency. These findings hold significant importance for the use of RLI as a potential adjuvant/therapeutic.
Bessard
Anne
A
Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale U892, Institut de Recherche Thérapeutique, 8 quai Moncousu, BP 70721, 44007 Nantes Cedex 1, France. anne.bessard@univ-nantes.fr
Solé
Véronique
V
Bouchaud
Grégory
G
Quéméner
Agnès
A
Jacques
Yannick
Y
D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001682:Biological Availability; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D019409:Interleukin-15 / Q000235:genetics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008114:Liver Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000556:secondary*; D008546:Melanoma, Experimental / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008819:Mice, Nude; D053647:Receptors, Interleukin-15 / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000493:pharmacokinetics
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; C508024:IL15RA protein, human; D019409:Interleukin-15; D053647:Receptors, Interleukin-15; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins