Melanoma Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Melanoma, including details on identification, causes, prevention, treatment.

In vivo culture of encapsulated endostatin-secreting Chinese hamster ovary cells for systemic tumor inhibition.

Zhang Y, Wang W, Xie Y, Yu W, Teng H, Liu X, Zhang X, Guo X, Fei J, Ma X

Laboratory of Biomedical Material Engineering, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, People's Republic of China.

Microencapsulation of recombinant cells is a novel alternative approach to tumor gene therapy. Therapeutic protein delivery can be sustained for systemic treatment of tumors because the recombinant cells are enclosed in microcapsules and the semipermeable membrane of the microcapsules protects the cells from host immune rejection and reduces the need for frequent injection. In this study, we describe a method to systemically inhibit tumor growth by in vivo culture of antiangiogenic endostatin-secreting Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells in microcapsules as small as 200 microm in diameter. Peritoneal administration of encapsulated endostatin-CHO cells inhibited melanoma growth to 66.4% and enhanced the survival of treated mice to 80% by 27 days posttreatment. Continuous systemic release of endostatin from microcapsules offers an effective therapeutic strategy to eradicate solid tumors.

Published 5 June 2007 in Hum Gene Ther, 18(5): 474-81.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Melanoma Research Today. All Rights Reserved.