Adenovirus-Based Therapy Yields Positive Results In Dendritic Cells.(Brief Article)

2002 FEB 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Recombinant adenovirus-based therapies may contain certain properties that make them advantageous for dendritic cell differentiation, researchers say.

The collaborative team comprising investigators at the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Frederick, Maryland, and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio, was able to get human CD14(+) monocytes to differentiate after being infected by adenovirus type 5 viral vectors.

"Under serum-free conditions, this resulted in differentiation of a majority of cells toward a dendritic cell phenotype within 36 to 48 hours, without the need for cytokine-induced predifferentiation," explained Lyudmila A. Lyakh, NCI, and coworkers.

Cellular morphology became like that of dendritic cells, and several cell surface markers associated with immune response activity were differentially expressed after the monocyte cells were infected with adenovirus vector. "Differentiated cells maintained immunophenotype without loss of viability for at least 2 days after removal of the differentiation agent and cytokines," Lyakh and colleagues commented.

Researchers also noticed more T-lymphocyte stimulation and production of RelB, a dendritic cell transcription factor, in differentiated dendritic cells.

Interestingly, viruses containing no transgenes were almost as effective for causing cellular changes as ...