Gene transfer of OX40 ligand to tumor cells enhances antitumor immunity.

2004 JUL 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Adenovirus vector-mediated in vivo gene transfer of OX40 ligand to tumor cells enhances antitumor immunity of tumor-bearing hosts.

According to recent research published in the journal Cancer Research, "OX40 ligand (OX40L), the ligand for OX40 on activated CD4+ T cells, has adjuvant properties for establishing effective T-cell immunity, a potent effector arm of the immune system against cancer. The hypothesis of this study is that in vivo genetic engineering of tumor cells to express OX40L will stimulate tumor-specific T cells by the OX40L-OX40 engagement, leading to an induction of systemic antitumor immunity."

"To investigate this hypothesis, s.c. established tumors of three different mouse cancer cells (B16 melanoma, H-2[superscript]b; Lewis lung carcinoma, H-2[superscript]b; and colon-26 colon adenocarcinoma, H-2[superscript]d) were treated with intratumoral injection of a recombinant adenovirus vector expressing mouse OX40L (AdOX40L)," stated Sita Andarini and colleagues at Tohoku University. "In all tumor models tested, treatment of tumor-bearing mice with AdOX40L induced a significant suppression of tumor growth along with survival advantages in the treated mice."

"The in vivo AdOX40L modification of tumors evoked tumor-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes in the treated host correlated with in vivo priming of T helper 1 immune responses in a tumor-specific manner," reported the scientists. "Consistent with the finding, the antitumor effect provided by ...