Genetherapy

Immuno-genetherapy using dendritic cells (DCs) can be applied to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection. Sendai virus (SeV) has unique features such as cytoplasmic replication and high protein expression as a vector for genetic manipulation. In this study, we compared the efficiency of inducing green fluorescent protein (GFP) and HIV-1 gene expression in human monocyte-derived DCs between SeV and adenovirus (AdV). Human monocyte-derived DCs infected with SeV showed the maximum gene expression 24 hr after infection at a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 2...

OBJECTIVE: To construct a replication-detective recombinant adinovirus including tne target gene human bone morphogenetic protein 4 (fragment hBMP-4). METHODS: The hBMP-4 gene fragment was cut down from pCS2(+)/hBMP-4, cloned into the eukaryotic expressive vector pcDNA 3.1(+), then subcloned into pShuttle-CMV and transformed into the competent E. coli BJ5183/p by electroporation. The resulting recombinant plasmid pAdE/ hBMP-4 was transformed into the packaging of the cell lines HEK293 to produce the replication-defective recombinant adenoviruses containing the hBMP-4 gene...

As of January 2005, there were 1020 gene therapy clinical trials ongoing worldwide with 675 or 66.2% devoted to cancer gene therapy. The majority are occurring in the US and Europe (https://www.wiley.co.uk/genetherapy/clinical/). At the present time, to our knowledge there are no trials that employ gene delivery of Fas Ligand (FasL). As an important note, and in contrast to somatic cell therapy trials, there are no reported deaths due to therapeutic vector administration in any cancer gene therapy trial. That said, from our studies and from the published literature, the issue of gene delivery remains the major obstacle to successfully employing gene therapy for cancer treatment...

The advances in radiotherapy (3D-CRT, IMRT) have enabled high doses of radiation to be delivered with the least possible associated toxicity. However, the persistence of cancer (local recurrence after radiotherapy) despite these increased doses as well as distant failure suggesting the existence of micro-metastases, especially in the case of higher risk disease, have underscored the need for continued improvement in treatment strategies to manage local and micro-metastatic disease as definitively as possible...

OBJECTIVES: To explore, on the cell level, the possibility of using 10-23DNAzyme, as a new genetherapy in treating hepatitis B. METHODS: Phosthorothioate 10-23DRz (DRz-S) and 10-23DRz specific to HBV pre-C/C gene ORFA2031 were designed and synthesized, and the inhibition effects of 10-23DRz-S and 10-23DRz on the expression of HBV gene in HepG2 2.2.15 cells were observed. RESULTS: The expression of HBV gene was remarkably depressed after 2...

Anaplastic (giant cell) thyroid carcinoma (ATC), is one of the most aggressive malignancies in humans with a median survival time after diagnosis of 3-6 months. Death from ATC was earlier seen because of local growth and suffocation. ATC is uncommon, accounting for less than 5 % of all thyroid carcinomas. The diagnosis can be established by means of multiple fine needle aspiration biopsies, which are neither harmful nor troublesome for the patient. The cytological diagnosis of this high-grade malignant tumour is usually not difficult for a well trained cytologist...

AIM: To construct adenovirus vector harboring CTLA4Ig-IRES 2-IkappaBalpha gene,and investigate its expression in ECV304 cells. METHODS: Recombinant adenovirus vector harboring CTLA4Ig-IRES 2-IkappaBalpha was constructed by homologous recombination in E.coli BJ5183. Then recombinant vector was packaged and propagated in 293 cells. ECV304 cells were infected with the recombinant adenovirus, and Western Blot was used to detect IkappaBalpha and CTLA4Ig protein expression in infected ECV304 cells...

AIM: To construct a pEgr-IFNgamma plasmid and to investigate its expression properties of interferon-gamma (INF-gamma) induced by irradiation and the effect of gene-radiotherapy on the growth of melanoma. METHODS: A recombined plasmid, pEgr-IFNgamma, was constructed and transfected into B16 cell line with lipofectamine. The expression properties of pEgr-IFNgamma were investigated by ELISA. Then, a B16 melanoma-bearing model was established in mice, and the plasmid was injected into the tumor tissue...

OBJECTIVE: The pEgr-TNFalpha plasmid was constructed to investigate the effect of gene-radiotherapy on melanoma and host immune system. METHODS: pEgr-TNFalpha plasmids were constructed and injected into tumor tissue, 36 hours later, the tumors were given 20 Gy X-ray irradiation. Tumor growth at different timepoints was record and immunologic parameters were detected 15 days later. RESULTS: From 3 to 15 d after pEgr-TNFalpha gene-radiotherapy the tumor growth was significantly slower than irradiation or genetherapy alone...

Cell transduction in vitro is only the first step toward proving that a genetherapy vector can be useful to treat tumors. However, tumor targeting in vivo is now the milestone for gene therapy to succeed against disseminated cancer. Therefore, most valuable information is obtained from studies of vector biodistribution. Owing to the hepatotropism of adenoviral vectors, a particularly important parameter is the tumor/liver ratio. This ratio can be given at the level of gene expression if the amount of transgene expression is measured...

Nursing Science and research within BMT started in the early 80s and has been shown to be a useful contribution to obtain and maintain high standards of care. Trial and error are no longer accepted. The first studies were conducted together with the clinical developments and focused specifically on symptom control and management of the treatment. The term "evidence-based nursing" (EBN) is nowadays often used to describe the influence of research on practice. And yet we find that in general, care given by nurses is not yet based according to the guidelines established by research...

Cancer cells do not elicit a clinically sufficient anti-tumor immune response that results in tumor rejection. Recently, many investigators have been trying to enhance anti-tumor immunity and encouraging results have been reported. This review will discuss current anti-cancer immunotherapy; interleukin-2 therapy, tumor vaccine secreting Granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor, dendritic cells fused with tumor cells, and CD40 ligand immunotherapy. Moreover, we introduce our two kinds of CD40 ligand immuno-genetherapy; (1) oral CD40 ligand gene therapy against lymphoma using attenuated Salmonella typhimurium (published in BLOOD 2000), (2) cancer vaccine transfected with CD40 ligand ex vivo for neuroblastoma (unpublished)...

Genetically engineered expression of tumor-specific single chain antibody chimeric receptors (ch-Rec) on human T lymphocytes endow these cells with the parental monoclonal antibody (mAb) dictated tumor specificity and may be useful for clinical immuno-genetherapy. Therefore it was of importance to assess how the densities of tumor-specific receptors and tumor associated antigens (TAA), respectively, affect primary human T lymphocyte functions in relation to target cell susceptibilities to lysis. We therefore studied the functional balance between ch-Rec densities on human T lymphocytes and TAA on tumor cells...

Electroporation is a standard laboratory technique originally developed for in vitro transfer of molecules into cells. It involves application of electrical pulses ranging from micro- to milliseconds that create transient pores in the cell membrane allowing intracellular access of exogenous molecules. This technique has been successfully applied to regress tumors in animal models by combining electroporation with chemotherapeutic agents--a process known as electrochemotherapy (ECT) which substantially enhance cytotoxicity of some antineoplastic agents...

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