A single low dose of dendritic cells modified with lentivirus containing a truncated neu gene can effectively suppress neu-overexpressing tumors.

BACKGROUND: Several types of viral-transduced HER2/neu-modified dendritic cells (DC(HER2/neu)) have been used for preventing and/or treating HER2/neu-overexpressing tumors. However, to date, lentivirus has not been used to generate HER2/neu-modified DCs. METHODS: In the present study, we used recombinant lentivirus containing a truncated neu gene (rLVneu) to transduce murine bone marrow-derived dendritic cells and investigated their preventive and therapeutic effects on HER2/neu-overexpressing tumors. RESULTS: The data obtained show that a single low dose of lentiviral-transduced DC(HER2/neu) could significantly elevate serum anti-neu antibody level, stimulate the proliferation of CD4 and CD8 T lymphocytes and interferon-gamma secretion, induce a long lasting preventive effect against HER2/neu-overexpressing tumors and significantly suppress the growth of established HER2/neu-overexpressing tumors. CONCLUSIONS: The present study demonstrates that a single low dose of DCs modified with rLV containing a truncated neu oncogene can achieve a strong and long lasting effect on neu-overexpressing tumors, suggesting the possible clinical application of this strategy.