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  • Acquired Diseases
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Immune response induced by retrovirus-mediated HSV-tk/GCV pharmacogene therapy in patients with glioblastoma multiforme

Gene Therapy volume 7, pages 1853–1858 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate immunological components of somatic gene therapy for primary glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) in adults. It involved 13 patients treated by surgical resection of tumor with subsequent radiation therapy. Seven of them received additional herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase/ganciclovir (HSV-tk/GCV) gene therapy by direct intracerebral injection of retrovirus (RV) vector producing cells (VPC) during tumor surgery and subsequent systemic administration of GCV. Peripheral blood for FACS immunophenotyping, isolation of peripheral mononuclear cells (PMNC), and serum ELISA assays for IL-12 and soluble Fas ligand (sFasL) was collected daily during the first 4 post-operative weeks. Tumor specimens were obtained at primary or recurrent surgery and at autopsy. Tumors from gene therapy patients showed varying degrees of peritumoral necrosis around the former tumor resection cavity. Numbers of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes found weeks after gene therapy were not significantly increased compared with primary tumors. Mitotic tumor cells were sparse close to the VPC injection sites, but abundant in brain areas somewhat distant from these sites. Serum ELISA revealed significantly increased sFasL and IL-12 levels in the gene therapy group compared with controls. Immunophenotyping of PMNC did not show a significant activation of T cells or NK cells during gene therapy. Interferon gamma secretion was evaluated by ELISPOT assays employing PMNC cocultivated with autologous tumor cells. It demonstrated an antitumor immune response in the gene therapy group, but not in the control group. These findings support the concept of in vivo induction of a systemic immune response by local intracerebral HSV-tk/GCV pharmacogene therapy for primary human GBM.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported in part by grants 015VE1997 and 2794A/0087H from the Federal State of Saxony-Anhalt (NGR), grant 0311661/1402 (BioRegio) from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (NGR, CMK), grant KR1711/1–1 from the German Research Council, DFG (CMK), grant SFB 503-C6 from the German Research Council, DFG (UB), grants from the Elterninitiative Kinderkrebsklinik Duesseldorf eV (CMK, UB, DK), and by Novartis Pharma GmbH, Nuremberg, Germany.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany

    N G Rainov, V Heidecke & W Burkert

  2. Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, University Children's Hospital, Heinrich-Heine-University, Duesseldorf, Germany

    C M Kramm, U Banning & D Körholz

  3. Institute of Medical Immunology, Martin-Luther-University, Germany

    D Riemann

  4. Institute of Pathology, Martin-Luther-University Halle, Germany

    H-J Holzhausen

  5. Novartis Pharma GmbH, Nuremberg, Germany

    K J Burger

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Rainov, N., Kramm, C., Banning, U. et al. Immune response induced by retrovirus-mediated HSV-tk/GCV pharmacogene therapy in patients with glioblastoma multiforme. Gene Ther 7, 1853–1858 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.gt.3301311

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