HSV-TK Gene Transfer into Donor Lymphocytes for Control of Allogeneic Graft-Versus-Leukemia

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) - Tập 276 Số 5319 - Trang 1719-1724 - 1997
Chiara Bonini1,2,3, Giuliana Ferrari1,2,3, Simona Verzeletti1,2,3, Paolo Servida1,2,3, Elisabetta Zappone1,2,3, Luciano Ruggieri1,2,3, Maurilio Ponzoni1,2,3, Silvano Rossini1,2,3, Fulvio Mavilio1,2,3, Catia Traversari1,2,3, Claudio Bordignon1,2,3
1C. Bonini, G. Ferrari, P. Servida, E. Zappone, L. Ruggieri, S. Rossini, F. Mavilio, C. Traversari, C. Bordignon, Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (TIGET), Istituto Scientifico H. S. Raffaele, 20132 Milan, Italy.
2M. Ponzoni, Department of Pathology, Istituto Scientifico H. S. Raffaele, 20132 Milan, Italy.
3S. Verzeletti, Molmed S.p.A., 20132 Milan, Italy.

Tóm tắt

In allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (allo-BMT), donor lymphocytes play a central therapeutic role in both graft-versus-leukemia (GvL) and immune reconstitution. However, their use is limited by the risk of severe graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). Eight patients who relapsed or developed Epstein-Barr virus–induced lymphoma after T cell–depleted BMT were then treated with donor lymphocytes transduced with the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-TK) suicide gene. The transduced lymphocytes survived for up to 12 months, resulting in antitumor activity in five patients. Three patients developed GvHD, which could be effectively controlled by ganciclovir-induced elimination of the transduced cells. These data show that genetic manipulation of donor lymphocytes may increase the efficacy and safety of allo-BMT and expand its application to a larger number of patients.

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Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were collected from the BMT donor by leukapheresis and separated from the red cells and neutrophils by Ficoll-Hypaque density-gradient centrifugation. The PBMCs were then washed counted and cultured at ∼2 × 10 6 cells per 2-ml well in 24-well tissue culture plates containing RPMI 1640 with 5% human serum in the presence of recombinant human interleukin-2 (IL-2) (EuroCetus Italy S.r.l. Milan Italy). For gene transfer donor lymphocytes were cocultured with the irradiated packaging cell line for more than 48 hours in the presence of Polybrene (8 μg/ml) beginning the first day of polyclonal stimulation with phytohemagglutinin (2 μg/ml). No modification of culture conditions was introduced until the end of the procedure (13 14). After gene transfer transduced cells were selected for the expression of the cell surface marker ΔLNGFR by means of specific immunobeads. Cells were incubated with the murine monoclonal antibody 20.4 to human ΔLNGFR (American Type Culture Collection). After 30 min cells were washed and incubated with immunomagnetic beads coupled to a rat antibody to mouse immunoglobulin G1. After 45 min positive cells were separated by use of magnetic immunobeads and incubated overnight at 37°C to remove antibody-coated beads. After one round of selection the proportion of transduced cells was assessed by cytofluorimetric analysis (13). Up to this point of the study a second round of selection was never required to achieve the indicated levels of purity. Cells were then cryopreserved for future infusions. In vitro ganciclovir sensitivity of HSV-TK–transduced lymphocytes (15) as well as acyclovir resistance (10) have been described previously. Before clinical use cells were required to meet the specifications already in use in other clinical human gene therapy experiments. In particular cells were tested for replication-competent retroviruses IL-2–independent growth and for adventitious infectious agents. Cells were infused by intravenous injection in saline with 4% human serum albumin at the time of diagnosis of complication (Table 1) and subsequently at monthly intervals (14). In some patients (Figs. to 4) the schedule was adjusted in accord with clinical status and nature of the complication.

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If grade II GvHD or higher occurred patients who had previously received transduced donor lymphocytes were treated with ganciclovir (10 mg/kg per day) for 7 days or less if all the GvHD signs and symptoms regressed. Patients who had previously received infusions of both transduced and untransduced donor lymphocytes were initially treated with ganciclovir at 10 mg/kg per day to down-regulate GvHD.

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We thank N. Nobili D. Maggioni L. Parma and G. Torriani for technical assistance; F. Candotti H. J. Kolb and P. Panina for help and support; and the nurses and clinical staff of the Gene Therapy and Bone Marrow Transplantation Unit. Supported by grants from Telethon the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC) the European Community (Bio 4-CT 95-0284) and Boehringer Mannheim (Penzberg Germany).