Establishment of Fibroblasts-mediated Interleukin-6 Gene Therapy and Its Immune Regulation / 第二军医大学学报

ABSTRACT

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a pleiotropic cytokine which has antitumor activity. In the present study, a model for fibroblasts-mediated IL-6 gene therapy and its immune regulation are described. Human IL-6 cDNA was inserted into plasmid vector BCMGNeo containing a neomycin resistance gene. BCMGNeo-IL-6 was transferred into NIH3T3 fibroblasts by calcium phosphate coprecipitation method. A fibroblast clone (T6.6) secreting 1L-6 at highest level was selected by G418 resistance selection and limiting dilution. When T6.6 was implanted i.p. into mice, IL-6 could be detected in serum after 12 h. Even after 96 h, serum IL-6 still maintained at high level. Lymphocyte proliferation and IL-2 production could be enhanced significantly after in vivo implantation of T6.6. These results demonstrate that fibroblasts -mediated IL-6 gene therapy could augment immune function efficiently and outline a novel strategy for cancer treatment.