Cell delivery system: A novel strategy to improve the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy by manipulation of immune cell trafficking and biodistribution

Abstract

Tumor cells that generally accumulate mutations in the genome express molecules different both qualitatively and quantitatively from normal cells. An immunosurveillance system for these molecules, known as the tumor-associated antigens (TAAs), plays an important role in the elimination of cancer cells during the initial stage. Although cancer immunotherapy targeting TAAs has progressed steadily with the development of various vaccine strategies, satisfactory efficacy, such as marked tumor regression and complete response, has not been previously reported in a clinical setting. To improve the therapeutic effects of cancer immunotherapy, the application of chemokine-chemokine receptor coupling, which controls the trafficking and biodistribution of immune cells in the living body, is an attractive potential approach. This review introduces our novel "cell delivery system," which employs an Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) fiber-mutant adenovirus vector encoding the chemokine or chemokine receptor gene in cancer immunotherapy. © 2005 Pharmaceutical Society of Japan.