New colon cancer study findings recently were reported by researchers at National Institutes of Health
2009 JUL 8 - (NewsRx.com) -- According to recent research from the United States, "IL-15 has potential as an immunotherapeutic agent for cancer treatment because it is a critical factor for the proliferation and activation of natural killer (NK) and CD8(+) T cells. Administration of anti-CD40 antibodies has shown anti-tumor effects in vivo through a variety of mechanisms." "Furthermore, activation of CD40 led to increased expression of IL-15 receptor-alpha by dendritic cells, an action that is critical for trans- presentation of IL-15 to NK and CD8(+) T cells. In this study, we investigated the therapeutic efficacy of the combination regimen of murine IL-15 (mIL-15) with an agonistic anti-CD40 antibody (FGK4.5) in murine lung metastasis models involving CT26 and MC38, which are murine colon cancer cell lines syngeneic to BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice, respectively. Treatment with mIL-15 or the anti-CD40 antibody alone significantly prolonged survival of both CT26 and MC38 tumor-bearing mice compared with the mice in the PBS solution control group (P < 0.01). Furthermore, combination therapy with both mIL-15 and the anti-CD40 antibody provided greater therapeutic efficacy as demonstrated by prolonged survival of the mice compared with either mIL-15 or the anti-CD40 antibody-alone groups (P < 0.001). We found that NK cells isolated from the mice that received the combination regimen expressed increased levels of intracellular granzyme B and showed stronger cytotoxic activity on the target cells," wrote M.L. Zhang and colleagues, National Institutes of Health. The researchers concluded: "The findings from this study provide the scientific basis for clinical trials using the combination regimen of IL-15 with an anti-CD40 antibody for the treatment of patients with cancer." Zhang and colleagues published their study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (Interleukin-15 combined with an anti-CD40 antibody provides enhanced therapeutic efficacy for murine models of colon cancer. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2009;106(18):7513-7518). For additional information, contact T.A. Waldmann, National Cancer Institute, Metab Branch, Center Cancer Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. Publisher contact information for the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America is: National Acad Sciences, 2101 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20418, USA. Keywords: United States, Bethesda, Anticancer Therapy, Biological Therapy, Colon Cancer, Colon Carcinoma, Immunotherapy, Infectious Disease, Oncology, Pulmonology, Respiratory Infection, Treatment, National Institutes of Health. This article was prepared by Immunotherapy Weekly editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2009, Immunotherapy Weekly via NewsRx.com.
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