We have created a novel cellular vehicle for gene therapy of malignant gliomas by transfection of murine bone marrow stroma cells (MSCs) with a cDNA encoding epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). These cells (EGFR-MSCs) demonstrate enhanced migratory responses toward glioma-conditioned media in comparison to primary MSCs in vitro. Enhanced migration of EGFR-MSC was at least partially dependent on EGF-EGFR, PI3-, MAP kinase kinase, and MAP kinases, protein kinase C, and actin polymerization. Unlike primary MSCs, EGFR-MSCs were resistant to FasL-mediated cytotoxicity and were capable of stimulating allogeneic mixed lymphocyte reaction, suggesting EGFR-MSCs possess suitable characteristics as vehicles for brain tumor immuno-gene therapy. Following injection at various sites, including the contralateral hemisphere in the brain of syngeneic mice, EGFR-MSCs were able to migrate toward GL261 gliomas or B16 melanoma in vivo. Finally, intratumoral injection with EGFR-MSC adenovirally engineered to secrete interferon-a to intracranial GL261 resulted in significantly prolonged survival in comparison to controls. These data indicate that EGFR-MSCs may serve as attractive vehicles for infiltrating brain malignancies such as malignant gliomas.

We tested whether modulation of the CNS-tumor microenvironment by delivery of IFN-α-transduced dendritic cells (DCs: DC-IFN-α) would enhance the therapeutic efficacy of peripheral vaccinations with cytokine-gene transduced tumor cells. Mice bearing intracranial GL261 glioma or MCA205 sarcoma received peripheral immunizations with corresponding irradiated tumor cells engineered to express IL-4 or GM-CSFs, respectively, as well as intratumoral delivery of DC-IFN-α. This regimen prolonged survival of the animals and induced tumor-specific CTLs that expressed TRAIL, which in concert with perforin and Fas ligand (FasL) was involved in the tumor-specific CTL activity of these cells. The in vivo antitumor activity associated with this approach was abrogated by administration of neutralizing mAbs against TRAIL or FasL and was not observed in perforin−/−, IFN-γ−/−, or FasL−/− mice. Transduction of the tumor cells with antiapoptotic protein cellular FLIP rendered the gene-modified cells resistant to TRAIL- or FasL-mediated apoptosis and to CTL killing activity in vitro. Furthermore, the combination therapeutic regimen was ineffective in an intracranial cellular FLIP-transduced MCA205 brain tumor model. These results suggest that the combination of intratumoral delivery of DC-IFN-α and peripheral immunization with cytokine-gene transduced tumor cells may be an effective therapy for brain tumors that are sensitive to apoptotic signaling pathways.

Restricted and high-level expression of interleukin-13 receptor A2 (IL-13RA2) in a majority of human malignant gliomas makes this protein an attractive vaccine target. We have previously described the identification of the IL-13RA2 [345][346][347][348][349][350][351][352][353] peptide as a human leukocyte antigen-A2 (HLA-A2)-restricted CTL epitope. However, as it remains unclear how efficiently peptide-based vaccines can induce specific CTLs in patients with malignant gliomas, we have examined whether analogue epitopes could elicit heteroclitic antitumor T-cell responses versus wild-type peptides. We have created three IL-13RA2 analogue peptides by substitutions of the COOH-terminal isoleucine (I) for valine (V) and the NH 2 -terminal tryptophan (W) for either alanine (A), glutamic acid (E), or nonsubstituted (W; designated as 1A9V, 1E9V, and 9V, respectively). In comparison with the native IL-13RA2 epitope, the analogue peptides 9V and 1A9V displayed higher levels of binding affinity and stability in HLA-A2 complexes and yielded an improved stimulatory index for patient-derived, specific CTLs against the native epitope expressed by HLA-A2 + glioma cells. In HLA-A2-transgenic HHD mice, immunization with the peptides 9V and 1A9V induced enhanced levels of CTL reactivity and protective immunity against an intracranial challenge with IL13RA2-expressing syngeneic tumors when compared with vaccines containing the native IL-13RA2 epitope. These findings indicate highly immunogenic IL-13RA2 peptide analogues may be useful for the development of vaccines capable of effectively expanding IL-13RA2-specific, tumor-reactive CTLs in glioma patients. (Cancer Res 2006; 66(11): 5883-91)

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