Abstract
A novel anti-human DR5 monoclonal antibody, TRA-8, induces apoptosis of most tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL)-sensitive tumor cells both in vitro and in vivo. In contrast to both the membrane-bound form of human TRAIL, which induced severe hepatitis in mice, and the soluble form of human TRAIL, which induced apoptosis of normal human hepatocytes in vitro, TRA-8 did not induce significant cell death of normal human hepatocytes. However, both primary hepatocellular carcinoma cells and an established liver cancer cell line were highly susceptible to the killing mediated by TRA-8. We show here that elevated levels of cell-surface expression of DR5 and increased susceptibility to DR5-mediated apoptosis are characteristics of malignant tumor cells. In contrast, DR5 alone is not sufficient to trigger apoptosis of normal hepatocytes. Therefore, selective, specific targeting of DR5 with an agonistic antibody might be a safe and effective strategy for cancer therapy.
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Acknowledgements
We thank F. Hunter for editing the manuscript; Y. Gillespie and R. Jope for providing tumor cells; the FACS Core Facility of the University of Alabama Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Center for excellent flow cytometry assistance; the Tissue Procurement Center of the University of Alabama for providing human tissues. This work was sponsored in part by Sankyo Co. of Japan. T.Z. is supported by grants from the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, the Arthritis Foundation, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and NIH R03-AR44982.
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Ichikawa, K., Liu, W., Zhao, L. et al. Tumoricidal activity of a novel anti-human DR5 monoclonal antibody without hepatocyte cytotoxicity. Nat Med 7, 954–960 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/91000
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/91000
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