Efficacy of gene therapy for X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency.

Background: The outcomes of gene therapy to correct congenital immunodeficiencies are unknown. We reviewed long-term outcomes after gene therapy in nine patients with X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID-X1), which is characterized by the absence of the cytokine receptor common gamma chain.

Methods: The nine patients, who lacked an HLA-identical donor, underwent ex vivo retrovirus-mediated transfer of gamma chain to autologous CD34+ bone marrow cells between 1999 and 2002.

Cryopreservation of Dendritic Cells Grown in Vitro from Monocytes for Their Future Clinical Use.

Dendritic cells are professional antigen presenting cells which are being used as adjuvants in tumor vaccination trials. Most clinical protocols currently include 4 to 10 weekly infusions of doses > 10(6) cells, each inoculum coming from a simple culture of blood monocytes. In the present study, several millions of dendritic cells from a single leukapheresis were produced; monocytes were isolated by elutriation and then cultured in Teflon bags in presence of 800 U/ml GM-CSF + 100 micro g/ml IL-13 + 10% fetal calf serum (FCS).

Adenovirally transduced dendritic cells induce bispecific cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses against adenovirus and cytomegalovirus pp65 or against adenovirus and Epstein-Barr virus EBNA3C protein: a novel approach for immunotherapy.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), and adenovirus (Ad) cause significant morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients undergoing allogeneic stem cell transplantation. We have established a procedure to generate polyclonal cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) populations with specificity against Ad and CMV or against Ad and EBV. Healthy donor-derived dendritic cells (DCs) were transduced with recombinant adenovirus encoding either CMV pp65 or EBV EBNA3C and used to stimulate autologous T cells.

In vitro generation of dendritic cells from human blood monocytes in experimental conditions compatible for in vivo cell therapy.

DC are professional APC that are promising adjuvants for clinical immunotherapy. Methods to generate in vitro large numbers of functional human DC using either peripheral blood monocytes or CD34+ pluripotent HPC have been developed recently. However, the various steps of their in vitro production for further clinical use need to fit good manufacturing practice (GMP) conditions.

Activation of the Janus kinase 3-STAT5a pathway after CD40 triggering of human monocytes but not of resting B cells.

CD40/CD40 ligand interactions play a key role in the immune responses of B lymphocytes, monocytes, and dendritic cells. The signal transduction events triggered by cross-linking of the CD40 receptor have been widely studied in B cell lines, but little is known about signaling following CD40 stimulation of monocytes and resting tonsillar B cells. Therefore, we studied the CD40 pathway in highly purified human monocytes and resting B cells.