2-Tridecanone: A Naturally Occurring Insecticide from the Wild Tomato Lycopersicon hirsutum f.glabratum.

A nonalkaloid insecticide was isolated from the wild tomato Lycopersicon hirsutum f. glabratum and identified as 2-tridecanone, a compound 72 times more abundant in the wild tomato than in the cultivated tomato L. esculentum. Lepidopterous larvae (Manduca sexta and Heliothis zea) and aphids (Aphis gossypii) died when confined on 2-tridecanone-treated filter paper.

Differential effects of microenvironmentally presented interleukin 3 versus soluble growth factor on primitive human hematopoietic cells.

The effect of IL-3 on hematopoiesis in long-term culture (LTC) was studied by cocultivating normal human marrow cells with human marrow fibroblast feeders engineered to constitutively produce IL-3 and by adding soluble IL-3 to LTC according to a variety of dose-time schedules. Feeders stably producing 7 ng/ml IL-3, or LTC to which 10 ng/ml IL-3 was added daily for 5 wk, but not once or twice weekly for the same time period, increased the output of mature nonadherent cells and progenitors from LTC as compared to control cultures. At the time of the weekly half-medium change, when primitive clonogenic progenitors in the adherent layer of standard LTC are quiescent, such cells were actively cycling in cultures containing a continuous source of an adequate dose of IL-3. In LTC, where the proportion of IL-3-producing cells in the feeder layer was diluted to 10% and no IL-3 was detectable in culture medium, primitive adherent layer progenitors were, nevertheless, maintained as a population of continuously proliferating cells. Thus, the presence of IL-3 in LTC can enhance the proliferation and differentiation of very early human hematopoietic cells, but the concentration, duration of exposure, and method of IL-3 presentation are important determinants of the ultimate effects observed.

Retroviral gene transfer to primitive normal and leukemic hematopoietic cells using clinically applicable procedures.

Clinical uses of gene transfer to bone marrow transplants require the establishment of a reproducible method for infecting large numbers of very primitive hematopoietic cells at high efficiency using cell-free retrovirus-containing media. In this study we report the results of experiments with preparations of a high-titer (2-5 x 10(7)/ml) helper-free recombinant neo(r) retrovirus that indicate this goal can now be achieved based on measurements of gene transfer efficiencies to cells referred to as long-term culture initiating cells (LTC-IC) because they give rise to clonogenic cells after greater than or equal to 5 wk in long-term culture (LTC). Intermittent, repeated exposure of normal human marrow mononuclear cells to virus-containing supernatant over a 3-d period of cell maintenance on an IL-3/granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) producing stromal layer resulted in gene transfer efficiencies to LTC-IC of 41%; a level previously obtainable only using co-cultivation infection techniques. Marrow cells enriched greater than or equal to 500-fold for LTC-IC (1-2% pure) by flow cytometry showed gene transfer efficiencies of 27% when infected in a similar fashion over a shorter period (24 h), but in the presence of added soluble IL-3 and G-CSF without stromal feeders, and this increased to 61% when Steel factor was also present during the infection period. By using a less highly enriched population of LTC-IC obtained by a bulk immunoselection technique applicable to large-scale clinical marrow harvests, gene transfer efficiencies to LTC-IC of 40% were achieved and this was increased to 60% by short-term preselection in G418. Southern analysis of DNA from the nonadherent cells produced by these LTC over a 6-wk period provided evidence of clonal evolution of LTC-IC in vitro. Leukemic chronic myelogenous leukemia LTC-IC were also infected at high efficiency using the same supernatant infection strategy with growth factor supplementation. These data demonstrate the feasibility of using cell-free virus preparations for infecting clinical marrow samples suitable for transplantation, as well as for further analysis of human marrow stem cell dynamics in vitro.

Genetic modification of a murine fibrosarcoma to produce interleukin 7 stimulates host cell infiltration and tumor immunity.

Retroviral-mediated gene transfer was used to introduce and express the gene for murine interleukin 7 (IL-7) in a fibrosarcoma tumor (FSA). The tumorigenicity of these genetically modified FSA cells was greatly decreased in immunologically intact syngeneic mice but was unaltered in T-cell-deprived mice. IL-7-infected tumors that did grow in intact animals from large size inocula did so slowly and had a high incidence of spontaneous regression. Furthermore, mice that had rejected tumors became specifically immune to challenge with uninfected parental tumor cells. IL-7-infected FSA growing in intact mice were heavily infiltrated with host T-cells that were presumably responsible for slow growth and tumor regression, and tumor cells were in the minority. Fluorescence-activated cell sorter analysis showed that there was a 530% increase in T-cells in IL-7-infected FSA compared with control tumors. CD8+ T-cells were particularly elevated, but CD4+ lymphocytes were also increased in number, as were eosinophils and basophils. The CD4+:CD8+ ratio in IL-7-infected FSA was 1:1.7 in comparison to 1:0.6 in control tumors. Lymphocytes isolated from IL-7-producing tumors had greatly enhanced cytotoxicity towards uninfected, parental FSA cells. Killing of non-cross-reacting fibrosarcoma line was also increased but to a much lesser extent. Injection of recombinant human IL-7 directly into established FSA tumors slowed their growth and, in a significant number of instances, caused complete regression. Mice that had rejected tumor became specifically immune. The dose that was needed for this effect was, however, somewhat large: 20 micrograms twice daily for 10 days. This result contrasts with the efficacy of IL-7 gene infection in stimulating responses to the same tumor. These considerations make IL-7 a good candidate for tumor-directed cytokine gene therapy.

Cytokine-dependent engraftment of human myeloid leukemic cell lines in immunosuppressed nude mice.

To develop a model in which growth factor dependent human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells could be reliably engrafted onto murine recipients, the IL-3 or GM-CSF dependent human leukemic cell lines MO7E and TF-1 were engineered by infection with recombinant retroviruses to produce one of these factors. Retrovirally-infected, factor-producing MO7E or TF-1 cells became factor independent in culture while cells infected with a control (neo(r)) retrovirus did not. When these cells were injected intravenously into immunosuppressed Balb/C-nu/nu mice, human CD45+ cells were detected in the marrow of all 30 mice receiving hIL-3 or hGM-CSF-producing cells, but in 0/36 mice injected with uninfected or neo(r) virus-infected MO7E or TF-1 cells. Leukemic cell dissemination in mice injected with factor-producing MO7E cells progressed to cause hind limb paralysis in all animals by 7-12 weeks, and to involve the spleen and peripheral blood in 10/18 and 9/18 mice respectively. Injection of factor-producing TF-1 cells resulted in posterior thoracic tumor masses in all 12 mice by 5-11 weeks, while the spleen and blood were involved in six of those same animals. Southern analysis of retroviral integration sites demonstrated that the polyclonal nature of cells injected into mice was retained in the cells recovered from the same animals. When mice were injected with neo(r) virus-infected MO7E cells followed by 6 micrograms hIL-3 q/2 days i.p. all six mice showed hind limb paralysis and bone marrow involvement with a polyclonal population of MO7E cells by 8-13 weeks post injection. Thus, factor-dependent human AML cell lines will engraft in immunosuppressed, athymic nu/nu mice and disseminate with a pattern resembling human leukemia when provided with a source of the human factor(s) on which their growth is dependent in vitro.

The effects of interleukin 6 and interleukin 3 on early hematopoietic events in long-term cultures of human marrow.

Interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-3, both alone and in combination, stimulate hematopoietic cells in short-term in vitro assays and in vivo. To study their ability to influence hematopoiesis in a system that mimics many features of the marrow microenvironment, long-term cultures (LTC) were produced by co-cultivating normal human marrow cells on feeder layers of murine marrow-derived stromal cells (M2-10B4 cells) genetically engineered to produce human IL-6 and/or IL-3. Feeders stably producing 20 ng/ml IL-6 slightly increased the output of clonogenic progenitors in these LTC but did not change the production of mature (total nonadherent) cells as compared to control cultures. Feeders producing 50 ng/ml IL-3 increased both clonogenic progenitor output (approximately threefold) and the output of mature cells (six-fold) as compared to controls. Feeders producing both factors also increased the output of both progenitors and mature cells. At the time of the weekly half-medium change when primitive clonogenic progenitors in the adherent layer are quiescent, such progenitors were actively cycling in all cultures with factor-producing feeders, as shown by [3H]thymidine suicide assays. Similarly, three sequential daily additions of 20 ng/ml of IL-6 also stimulated the quiescent progenitors to enter S-phase 2 days later, although single doses of recombinant IL-6 as high as 100 ng/ml failed to do so. The combined presence of IL-6- and IL-3-producing feeders, but neither alone, was also able to enhance more than twofold the maintenance and early differentiation of cells capable of generating clonogenic cells for at least a further 5 weeks in secondary LTC. Thus, the provision of a continuous source of IL-6 or IL-3 to primitive hematopoietic cells even in the LTC system can enhance late events in the hierarchy of hematopoietic cell differentiation, but a combination of the two factors is required to stimulate early multipotent progenitors.

Carolinoside: a phytosteroidal glycoside from Solanum carolinense.

The glycoside of a new class of phytosteroids has been isolated from Solanum carolinense. The steroidal aglycone (carolinone) is alkylated at C-3 and is identified as C-[(2,4,5-trideoxy-3-keto-4,5-dehydro)-pentulopyranosyl]-(5----3)- (13,14- seco-14 beta,17 alpha-dihydroxy) estrogen. The hydrolytic labile glycosyl moiety is identified as O-(beta-D-glucopyranosyl) (1----1)-[L-(2,6-dideoxy-3-C-methyl)- arabinopyranose]. The linkage of this disaccharide in the steroidal glycoside (carolinoside) is shown to be O-(alpha-pentulopyranosyl)- (1----4)-O-(beta-L-arabinopyranosyl)-(1----1)-D-glucopyranose. Carolinoside occurs at concentrations of 10(-7)-10(-6) M in leaf tissue and was shown to be the host plant specific feeding induction factor for Manduca sexta.

Expression and nature of the alkaline phosphatase gene in cultured osteosarcoma cells.

The molecular mechanism for the differences in specific activity of alkaline phosphatase in six human osteosarcoma cell lines was investigated. Five of the lines expressed only the tissue-non-specific or liver/bone/kidney isoenzyme of alkaline phosphatase. The sixth line had the lowest levels of alkaline phosphatase and this was determined to be a mixture of liver/bone/kidney isoenzyme and at least one other form. The mRNA of liver/bone/kidney alkaline phosphatase was identified by Northern analysis in the three cell lines that expressed the largest amount of alkaline phosphatase catalytic activity. This mRNA was indistinguishable in size from that seen in control mRNA from normal kidney (2.5 kb). Southern analysis demonstrated that EcoRI or HindIII restriction fragment patterns and the intensity of the bands, of the liver/bone/kidney alkaline phosphatase gene in the osteosarcoma cell lines were identical to that of the control DNA from normal peripheral blood leukocytes. Thus, the gene coding for liver/bone/kidney alkaline phosphatase appears to be intact in all of these osteosarcoma cells and it is unlikely that rearrangement, deletion or amplification of the gene is responsible for its activation or inactivation. Slot blot analysis revealed varying amounts of the transcripts of the liver/bone/kidney isoenzyme in each of the cell lines. The best fit line of a plot of the log of the level of mRNA of alkaline phosphatase vs. the log of the specific activity of liver/bone/kidney alkaline phosphatase was constructed. This gave a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.92 (P < 0.008), demonstrating a significant relationship between the two variables. It is likely that the regulation of alkaline phosphatase activity is at the transcriptional process rather than the translational or post-translational processes and that the specific activity of the enzyme may be controlled by the amount of steady-state mRNA of the liver/bone/kidney isoenzyme.

The effect of GM-CSF and G-CSF on the growth of human osteosarcoma cells in vitro and in vivo.

The human osteosarcoma cell line, MG63, responds both to GM-CSF and to G-CSF in vitro. To assess the significance of these observations to tumor growth in vivo, MG63 cells were engineered by retroviral infection to produce human GM-CSF or G-CSF. These retrovirally infected cells become autostimulatory as measured by increased [3H]-thymidine incorporation (3- to 7-fold) and anchorage-independent colony formation (7- to 10-fold) as compared with uninfected MG63 cells or cells infected with control (neor) retrovirus. The increased proliferation induced by exogenous GM-CSF or G-CSF on uninfected MG63 cells in both assays could be completely inhibited by anti-GM-CSF or anti-G-CSF antibodies, while the same antibodies only partially abrogated proliferation by the growth-factor-producing cells. None of 34 nude or SCID mice developed tumors when injected s.c. with uninfected or neor-virus-infected cells. In contrast, all 30 mice injected with GM-CSF- or G-CSF-producing MG63 cells developed tumors which were G418-resistant and factor-producing. Tumor cell DNA showed a polyclonal retroviral integration pattern indistinguishable from that in the DNA of cells injected into mice. Tumors that formed following injection of a mixture of G418-resistant, GM-CSF-producing cells and cells infected with virus containing only the hygror gene contained hygromycin-resistant cells in the same proportion as was present in the original cell mixture. These data indicate that GM-CSF and G-CSF can support the growth of an osteosarcoma cell line both in vitro and in vivo whether the factor is supplied by autocrine production or from exogenous sources.

Inhibitory effect of locally produced and exogenous interleukin-6 on tumor growth in vivo.

In order to define the potential antitumor activity of the multifunctional cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6), retrovirus-mediated gene transfer was used to introduce and express a cDNA encoding human IL-6 in the murine fibrosarcoma cell line Fsa-R. Although these genetically modified tumor cells appeared morphologically and phenotypically identical to control Fsa-R cells and had a similar plating efficiency in vitro, they were found to exhibit greatly reduced tumorigenicity in vivo following intravenous injection into syngeneic recipients. Exogenous IL-6 was shown to produce a similar inhibition of tumor growth in the lung if administered intraperitoneally. In contrast, tumor growth in subcutaneous sites was inhibited only if the tumor cells were engineered to express IL-6 locally, or if IL-6 was administered intratumorally. Intraperitoneal injection of IL-6 had no inhibitory effect. Tumors that did grow from IL-6-producing tumor cell inocula in subcutaneous sites were found to contain large numbers of macrophages. These results demonstrate that the antitumor activity of systemically administered IL-6 varies depending on the site of tumor growth and suggest an important role for IL-6 in the recruitment, proliferation and/or survival of tumor-associated macrophages.

Differential regulation of primitive human hematopoietic cells in long-term cultures maintained on genetically engineered murine stromal cells.

Various growth factors are known to stimulate both early and late stages of human hematopoietic cell development in semisolid assay systems, but their role as microenvironmental regulators is poorly understood. To address this problem, we developed a novel coculture system in which highly purified primitive human hematopoietic cells were seeded onto an irradiated feeder layer of cells from a murine marrow-derived stromal cell line (M2-10B4) previously engineered by retroviral-mediated gene transfer to produce specific human factors. Effects on cells at very early, intermediate, and late stages of hematopoiesis were then evaluated by assessing the number of clonogenic cell precursors (long-term culture initiating cells [LTC-IC]), clonogenic cells, and mature granulocyte and macrophage progeny present in the cultures after 5 weeks. In the absence of any feeders, cells at all stages of hematopoiesis decreased to very low levels. In contrast, maintenance of LTC-IC was found to be supported by control murine stromal cells as effectively as by standard human marrow adherent layers. The presence of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) and interleukin-3-producing M2-10B4 cells in combination was able to further enhance the maintenance and early differentiation of these cells without a decline in their proliferative potential as measured by the clonogenic output per LTC-IC. However, this effect was lost if granulocyte-macrophage CSF (GM-CSF)-producing feeders were also present. On the other hand, in the presence of GM-CSF-producing feeders, the output of mature granulocytes and macrophages increased 20-fold. These findings show that it is possible to selectively improve the maintenance of very primitive human hematopoietic cells in vitro or their output of mature progeny by appropriate manipulation of the long-term marrow culture system. Further exploitation of this approach should facilitate investigation of the mechanisms operative within the human marrow microenvironment in vivo and the design of protocols for in vitro manipulation of human marrow for future therapeutic applications.

Alterations in lymphopoiesis after hematopoietic reconstitution with IL-7 virus-infected bone marrow.

Murine bone marrow was infected with a helper-free recombinant retrovirus expressing the mIL-7 gene and used to reconstitute lethally irradiated hosts. Twenty-three percent of mIL-7 retrovirus-infected recipients became moribund within 4-16 wk posttransplant with splenomegaly and hyperplastic lymph nodes, elevated white blood cell counts, plus other noticeable abnormalities including, in one animal, lymphocytic ascites. FACS analysis of hematopoietic tissue in diseased mice revealed marked alterations in T cell subsets of spleen and lymph nodes. These differences in extrathymic tissues compared with control animals included increases in CD4(-)-CD8+ lymphocytes and most strikingly the appearance of large numbers of an unusual CD4(+)-CD8+ T cell population with other characteristics of immature thymocytes (CD3lo-Thy1(+)-HSAhi). 3H-thymidine incorporation assays performed on extrathymic lymphocytes from a lymph node or ascites of two affected mice showed high levels of proliferation in the absence of either CD3 cross linking or exogenous IL-7 stimulation. Interestingly, in contrast to the effects noted on peripheral lymphoid tissues, no alteration in thymic size was noted and the proportion of CD4(+)-CD8+ cells was generally decreased with corresponding increases in CD4+ or CD8+ or CD4(-)-CD8- cells. These results provide further evidence of the involvement of IL-7 in the development and proliferation of early T cells in vivo and point to the possibility of IL-7 involvement in extrathymic expansion of a primitive class of T cells, the functional nature of which remains to be elucidated.

Transduction of human melanoma cell lines with the human interleukin-7 gene using retroviral-mediated gene transfer: comparison of immunologic properties with interleukin-2.

Two human melanoma cell lines were transduced with the human interleukin (IL)-7 and IL-2 genes using retroviral-mediated gene transfer. Stable, high-level cytokine expression was achieved. The in vitro growth of transduced tumors was unaltered. Neither of the IL-2-transduced melanoma cell lines grew in athymic mice, whereas one IL-7-transduced melanoma line showed retarded in vivo growth. This is consistent with animal studies suggesting a predominantly T-cell response to IL-7-transduced tumors and a more nonspecific response to IL-2-transduced tumors. Both IL-7- and IL-2-transduced melanoma cell lines could induce cytotoxic lymphocytes in mixed lymphocyte-tumor cultures. The expression of putative melanoma antigens (MAGE)-1 and MAGE-3 was unaltered by cytokine transduction. In one cell line, IL-7 transduction resulted in a marked inhibition of the immunosuppressive peptide transforming growth factor (TGF)beta 1. The results allow a comparison of immunobiologic properties of IL-7- and IL-2-transduced human melanoma cell lines in consideration of their use in genetically engineered tumor vaccines. IL-7 transduction results in stable cytokine expression and phenotypic alterations that appear to be favorable for enhanced immunogenicity and it deserves clinical testing.