The specific cytotoxic effect of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes transfected with chimeric T cell receptor on cells which express KDR / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the specific cytotoxity of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) transfected with chimeric T cell receptor (CTCR) on cells which express KDR.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A recombinant retroviral plasmid (pMSCVneo-Vhgamma) was constructed by cloning VEGF121-hinger-FcRgamma (Vhgamma) into retroviral vector pMSCVneo. After packaging by PT67, the virus with high titer was used to infect TIL isolated from liver cancer tissues, and then MSCVneo-Vhgamma-TIL was generated. TIL infected with MSCVneo was used as a control. The cytotoxicty of the transgenic TIL on NIH3T3 and HepG2 expressing no KDR and on ECV304 and A375 expressing KDR was detected with MTT colorimetric assay.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The sequences of VEGF121 and hinger-FcRgamma were different from those reported, but the deduced amino sequences were identical to the reported ones. The cytotoxity of TIL infected with MSCVneo on target cell was similar to that of the control TIL; both only had mild cytotoxity on cancer cell line. No significant cytotoxity was found in TIL infected with MSCVneo-cTCR on NIH3T3, but its cytotoxity on ECV304 was significant. The cytotoxity on HepG2 was similar to that of MSCVneo-TIL and uninfected TIL, but cytotoxity on A375 was significantly higher.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Chimeric T cell receptor permanently grafts TIL cell with predefined new specificity. TIL expressing Vhgamma can selectively recognize and kill vascular endothelial cell and tumor cells which express VEGF receptor KDR.</p>

Correlation between serum alpha-fetoprotein variant levels in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and the presence of alpha-fetoprotein mRNA in the circulating blood / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the relationship between serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) variant levels in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cancer cells disseminating through blood.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Serum AFP variant levels were measured by crossed immunoaffino-electrophoresis in the presence of lectin before initial surgical treatment in HCC patients. Circulating tumor cells were simultaneously detected in pre-operative blood samples using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for AFP mRNA.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Forty-six HCC patients with serum AFP positive were studied. Serum AFP variant level > or 20% was showed in 37 patients, among whom there were 22 (59.5%) showing AFP mRNA positive. In contrast, the positive AFP mRNA expression was only observed in 2 out of 9 patients (22.2%) with AFP variant level<20% (x(2)=4.02, P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>In hepatocellular carcinoma patients, increased AFP variant levels are associated with a haematogenous spread of tumor cells.</p>