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Chimeric form of tumor necrosis factor-α has enhanced surface expression and antitumor activity

Cancer Gene Therapy volume 16, pages 53–64 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α is a type-II transmembrane protein that is cleaved by TNF-α-converting enzyme (TACE/ADAM-17) to release soluble TNF, a cytokine with potent antitumor properties whose use in clinical applications is limited by its severe systemic toxicity. We found that human cells transfected with vectors encoding TNF without the TACE cleavage site (ΔTACE-TNF) still released functional cytokine at substantial levels that varied between transfected cell lines of different tissue types. Vectors encoding membrane-associated domains of CD154, another TNF-family protein, conjoined with the carboxyl-terminal domain of TNF, directed higher-level surface expression of a functional TNF that, in contrast to ΔTACE-TNF, was resistant to cleavage in all cell types. Furthermore, adenovirus vectors encoding CD154-TNF had significantly greater in vivo biological activity in inducing regression of established, syngeneic tumors in mice than adenovirus vectors encoding TNF, and lacked toxicity associated with soluble TNF. As such, CD154-TNF is a novel TNF that appears superior for treatment of tumors in which high-level local expression of TNF is desired.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Mei Li for her help in generating the plasmid and adenovirus constructs. This work was supported in part by a grant (to TJK) from the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy and an Award from the National Institutes of Health, PO1-CA081534 for the CLL Research Consortium (CRC). This work was supported in part by 5R37 CA049870 grant from NIH and the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy grant.

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Author notes

  1. M J Cantwell

    Present address: 3Current address: Adventrx Pharmaceuticals, San Diego, CA, USA,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Moores Cancer Center, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    R Rieger, D Whitacre, M J Cantwell & T J Kipps

  2. Memgen, LLC, Solana Beach, CA, USA

    C Prussak

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  1. R Rieger
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  2. D Whitacre
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Correspondence to T J Kipps.

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Rieger, R., Whitacre, D., Cantwell, M. et al. Chimeric form of tumor necrosis factor-α has enhanced surface expression and antitumor activity. Cancer Gene Ther 16, 53–64 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/cgt.2008.57

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