Effect of fractalkine-Fc delivery in experimental lung metastasis using DNA/704 nanospheres

Cancer Gene Ther. 2011 Nov;18(11):761-72. doi: 10.1038/cgt.2011.42. Epub 2011 Aug 26.

Abstract

The lung is one target organ to which solid tumors frequently metastasize. Given the systemic adverse effects of currently available treatments, developing effective strategies of drug/gene delivery directly to the lungs is therefore needed. Aerosol delivery is a non-invasive gene transfer approach to target the airways. Here, we sought to evaluate the potential to deliver a fractalkine (FKN)-encoding plasmid formulated with the tetrafunctional amphiphilic block copolymer 704 through aerosolization in two models of pulmonary metastases. FKN is a chemokine recently described as a good candidate to stimulate a strong antitumor immune response in various forms of cancers. Here, we have assessed the effect of single and repeated aerosolizations of FKN-encoding plasmid formulated with 704 on the development of experimental lung metastases of mouse colon carcinoma and osteosarcoma. For this purpose, we have designed FKN-Fc sequences encoding an optimized version of the chemokine. Repeated intratracheal administrations of 704/FKN-Fc markedly inhibited growth of experimental lung metastases of CT-26 and K7M2 cells. Our results showed that tetrafunctional amphiphilic block copolymer 704 is a highly efficient synthetic vector for mediating local and safe gene transfer into the lung. In addition, FKN-Fc gene therapy of pulmonary nodules may provide a promising immunotherapeutic approach.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Administration, Inhalation
  • Animals
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Chemokine CX3CL1 / genetics*
  • Drug Delivery Systems
  • Female
  • Gene Transfer Techniques
  • Genetic Therapy / methods*
  • Humans
  • Immunoglobulin Fragments / genetics*
  • Immunotherapy
  • Lung Neoplasms / genetics
  • Lung Neoplasms / secondary*
  • Lung Neoplasms / therapy*
  • Mice
  • Nanospheres
  • Neoplasm Metastasis
  • Plasmids / administration & dosage
  • Plasmids / genetics
  • Transfection

Substances

  • Chemokine CX3CL1
  • Immunoglobulin Fragments