(Application's abstract) Adoptive immunotherapy has provided an additional method of treating cancer. The use of Lymphokine Activated Killer (LAK) cells and in conjunction with interleukin-2 have shown remarkable results in some terminal cancer patients. Recently IFN-a has been shown to have a synergistic effect in animal TIL models. To further enhance TIL therapy, this application suggests retroviral mediated gene transfer of human IFN-a2 into TIL cells. INF-a2 and IFN-a A/D (BgIII) will be cloned into a retroviral transduced TIL cells expressing IFN will be assayed for efficacy and safety. IFN-a2 is being used for future clinical work while IFN-a2 A/D will be used for murine models. The transduced TIL cells will be examined for IFN production, changes in growth properties,cytotoxicity against tumor and non-tumor cell lines, surface marker phenotype, and production of other relevant cytokines.
