title: Syngeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation enhances the antitumor immunity of intratumoral type I interferon gene transfer for sarcoma.
abstract: Sarcoma at advanced stages remains a clinically challenging disease. Interferons (IFNs) can target cancer cells by multiple antitumor activities, including the induction of cancer cell death and enhancement of immune response. However, the development of an effective cancer immunotherapy is often difficult, because cancer generates an immunotolerant microenvironment against the host immune system. An autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is expected to reconstitute a fresh immune system, and expand tumor-specific T cells through the process of homeostatic proliferation. Here we examined whether a combination of autologous HSCT and IFNs could induce an effective tumor-specific immune response against sarcoma. First, we found that a type I IFN gene transfer significantly suppressed the cell growth of various sarcoma cell lines, and that IFN-β gene transfer was more effective in inducing cell death than was IFN-α in sarcoma cells. Then, to examine the antitumor effect in vivo, human sarcoma cells were inoculated in immune-deficient mice, and a lipofection of an IFN-β-expressing plasmid was found to suppress the growth of subcutaneous tumors significantly. Finally, the IFN gene transfer was combined with syngeneic HSCT in murine osteosarcoma models. Intratumoral IFN-β gene transfer markedly suppressed the growth of vector-injected tumors and inhibited formation of spontaneous lung and liver metastases in syngeneic HSCT mice, and an infiltration of many immune cells was recognized in metastatic tumors of the treated mice. The treated mice showed no significant adverse events. A combination of intratumoral IFN gene transfer with autologous HSCT could be a promising therapeutic strategy for patients with sarcoma.
authors.affiliation: Division of Gene and Immune Medicine, National Cancer Center Research Institute , Tokyo 104-0045, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Udagawa
authors.forename: Kenta
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Narumi
authors.forename: Naoko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.forename: Kouichirou
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aida
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ochiya
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Makimoto
authors.forename: Teruhiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.forename: Tatsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chikaraishi
authors.forename: Kazunori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aoki
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D005260:Female; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D015316:Genetic Therapy; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy; D016899:Interferon-beta / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D008055:Lipids; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation; D010957:Plasmids; D012513:Sarcoma, Experimental / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D023041:Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays
chemical_list: D008055:Lipids; C086724:Lipofectamine; D016899:Interferon-beta