Glioblastoma cell lines transduced with this vector could produce high levels of IL-2 for up to 2 weeks, long enough to elicit an antitumor immune response.
Four patients affected by glioblastoma recurrence were treated with a gene therapy-immunotherapy protocol consisting of intratumoral injections of culture cells producing a retroviral vector which expresses human interleukin-2 and the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase genes.
T cell suppressor factor produced by human glioblastoma cells inhibits T cell proliferation in vitro and more specifically interferes with interleukin-2 (IL-2)-dependent T cell growth.