Immunotoxin combined with chemotherapy for patients with AIDS-related non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Background: The objective of this study was to develop and test a combined therapeutic approach for patients with AIDS-related lymphoma (ARL), employing agents with independent mechanisms of action and nonoverlapping toxicity. This study was designed to test the feasibility and tolerance of combining low dose chemotherapy with infusional immunotoxin in the treatment of ARL patients.

Methods: Previously untreated patients received low dose methotrexate, bleomycin, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, and vincristine (m-BACOD) on a 21- to 28-day schedule.

Mitoguazone therapy in patients with refractory or relapsed AIDS-related lymphoma: results from a multicenter phase II trial.

Purpose: Patients with AIDS-related lymphoma usually have extensive lymphomatous disease, with relatively frequent involvement of the CNS. Approximately half may achieve complete remission after chemotherapy. Mitoguazone, an inhibitor of polyamine biosynthesis, has demonstrated efficacy in patients with de novo recurrent lymphoma.

Long-term in vivo expression of a murine adenosine deaminase gene in rhesus monkey hematopoietic cells of multiple lineages after retroviral mediated gene transfer into CD34+ bone marrow cells.

Retroviral mediated gene transfer into stem cells has been proposed as therapy for many inherited hematopoietic diseases. Deficiency of the enzyme adenosine deaminase (ADA) results in depletion of T lymphocytes, causing severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome (SCIDS). In this report, we describe retroviral mediated gene transfer of a murine ADA cDNA into Rhesus monkey hematopoietic stem cells.

Functional expression of human CD8 in fully reconstituted mice after retroviral-mediated gene transfer of hemopoietic stem cells.

Retroviral-mediated gene transfer has been used in an attempt to efficiently and stably express functional cell-surface molecules in lymphoid and myeloid cells. The human CD8 molecule is a T cell-specific surface receptor that is intimately involved in class I MHC-restricted Ag recognition and subsequent T cell activation. After infection with a recombinant, replication-defective retrovirus containing the human CD8 alpha cDNA, bone marrow cells were transplanted into lethally irradiated recipients.

Stem cell factor, interleukin-3, and interleukin-6 promote retroviral-mediated gene transfer into murine hematopoietic stem cells.

The efficiency of retroviral-mediated gene transfer into hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) is dependent on the survival and self-renewal of HSC in vitro during retroviral infection. We have examined the effect of prestimulation of bone marrow with various cytokines, including the product of the Steel gene, Steel factor or stem cell factor (SCF) (the ligand for the c-kit receptor) on the efficiency of retroviral transduction of the human adenosine deaminase (hADA) cDNA into murine HSC. Bone marrow cells were prestimulated for 48 hours with hematopoietic growth factors, then cocultivated with the packaging cell line producing the ZipPGK-ADA simplified retrovirus for an additional 48 hours with continued growth factor exposure.

Retroviral gene transfer of human adenosine deaminase in murine hematopoietic cells: effect of selectable marker sequences on long-term expression.

Retroviral-mediated gene transfer of human adenosine deaminase (hADA) provides a model system for the development of somatic gene therapy as a therapy for diseases of bone marrow-derived cells. We have previously demonstrated that hADA can be observed in all hematopoietic lineages in a minority of mice transplanted with bone marrow cells infected with a simplified retroviral vector, ZipPGK-ADA. Here we report a majority of mice (six of eight) demonstrate expression of hADA in the peripheral blood at least 6 months after transplantation with bone marrow infected with this simplified retroviral vector, which contains no selectable marker.

Gene transfer into murine hematopoietic stem cells and bone marrow stromal cells.

The use of recombinant retroviral vectors to transfer genetic sequences into hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) is one approach to somatic gene therapy. Two limitations of such retroviral vectors are the degree of efficiency of transfer into the reconstituting hematopoietic stem cells and the loss of reconstituting ability of hematopoietic stem cells when manipulated in vitro during infection and selection. We have investigated the effects on the efficiency of gene transfer of prestimulation of hematopoietic stem cells by growth factors prior to infection.

Purification of coated vesicles by agarose gel electrophoresis.

We have applied agarose gel electrophoresis as a novel step in the purification of clathrin-coated vesicles. Preparations of coated vesicles obtained by sedimentation velocity and isopycnic centrifugation are resolved into two distinct fractions upon electrophoresis. The slower migrating fraction contains smooth vesicles, whereas the faster contains only coated vesicles and empty clathrin coats.