RESUMO
The application of somatic cell gene therapy to large patient populations will require the development of safe and practical approaches to the generation and characterization of genetically manipulated cells. Transkaryotic implantation is a gene therapy system based on the production of clonal strains of engineered primary and secondary cells, using non-viral methods. We demonstrate here that, on implantation, these clonal cell strains stably and reproducibly deliver pharmacologic quantities of protein for the lifetime of the experimental animals.
Assuntos
Hormônio do Crescimento/administração & dosagem , Animais , Células Cultivadas , Sistemas de Liberação de Medicamentos , Feminino , Fibroblastos , Terapia Genética/métodos , Técnicas In Vitro , Camundongos , Camundongos Nus , Coelhos , Transfecção , Transplante HeterólogoRESUMO
Brain tumors are increasingly prevalent. Recent advances focus attention on individual, disseminated tumor cells that cannot be imaged or eliminated. Cells of the immune system may be ideally suited to attack individual tumor cells, but more basic understanding is needed. We describe a rat model, using the lacZ reporter gene, that allows identification of individual tumor cells, and tumor-leukocyte interactions in vivo. The model demonstrates how widely tumor can disseminate, without secondary tumorigenesis or recruitment of nonneoplastic cells. It demonstrates that leukocytes have access to disseminating tumor. Among its many applications, this work lays a foundation for developing cell-mediated immunotherapy against individual brain tumor cells.