Biomedical subjects

Stéphane Paul

Publications and source records attributed to Stéphane Paul.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Fusokine interleukin-2/interleukin-18, a novel potent innate and adaptive immune stimulator with decreased toxicity.

To redress the immune imbalances created by pathologies such as cancer, it would be beneficial to create novel cytokine molecules, which combine desired cytokine activities with reduced toxicities. Due to their divergent but complementary activities, it is of interest to combine interleukin-2 (IL-2) and IL-18 into one recombinant molecule for immunotherapy. Evaluation of a fusokine protein that combines murine IL-2/IL-18 shows that it is stable, maintains IL-2 and IL-18 bioactivities, has notably reduced IL-2 associated toxicities, and has a novel lymphocyte-stimulating activity. An adeno-viral expression system was used to explore the biology of this "fusokine". Inclusion of the IL-18 prosequence (proIL-18) increases the expression, secretion, and potency of this fusokine. In vivo gene transfer experiments show that Ad-IL-2/proIL-18 dramatically outdoes Ad-IL-2, Ad-proIL-18, or the combination of both, by inducing high rates of tumor rejection in several murine models. Both innate and adaptive effector mechanisms are required for this antitumor activity.

Adenoviridae↗

PubMed2005

Bypassing tumor-associated immune suppression with recombinant adenovirus constructs expressing membrane bound or secreted GITR-L.

Recent evidence has resurrected the concept of specialized populations of T lymphocytes that are able to suppress an antigen-specific immune response. T-regulatory cells (T-reg) have been characterized as CD4+ CD25+ T cells. Previous reports describing differential gene expression analysis have shown that the glucocorticoid-induced tumor necrosis family receptor family-related gene (GITR) is upregulated in these cells. Furthermore, antibodies specific for GITR have been shown to inhibit the T-suppressor function of CD4+ CD25+ T-reg. The ligands for both mouse and human GITR have been cloned recently. We have inserted the sequences for natural, membrane-bound GITR-ligand (GITR-L) and a truncated secreted form of GITR-L (GITR-Lsol) into the adenovirus-5 genome. Coculture experiments show that cells infected with Ad-GITR-L and supernatants from cells infected with Ad-GITR-Lsol can increase the proliferation of both CD4+ CD25- and CD8+ T cells in response to anti-CD3 stimulation, in the presence, as well as in the absence, of CD4+ CD25+ T cells. The virus constructs were injected into growing B16 melanoma tumors. Ad-GITR-L was shown to attract infiltration with both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. Both constructs were shown to inhibit tumor growth.

Adenoviridae↗

PubMed2003

Technology evaluation: CpG-7909, Coley.

Coley Pharmaceutical (formerly CpG ImmunoPharmaceuticals) is developing CpG-7909 (ProMune) for use in the potential treatment of cancer and as a vaccine adjuvant. By April 2000, CpG-7909 had entered phase I/II trials for cancer and in March 2002, Coley initiated a phase I trial in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in combination with rituximab (Rituxan). By October 2002, CpG-7909 was in phase II trials as a vaccine adjuvant. Cpg-7909 is currently also undergoing phase II trials for melanoma.

Adjuvants, Immunologic↗