CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY USING AUTOLOGOUS TUMOR CELLS COMBINED WITH ALLOGENEIC CYTOKINE-SECRETING CELLS

摘要

This invention comprises cellular vaccines and methods of using them in cancerimmunotherapy, particularly in humans. The vaccines comprise a source of tumor-associated antigen, and a cytokine-secreting cell line. Tumor antigen may beprovided in the form of primary tumor cells, tumor cell lines or tumorextracts prepared from the subject. In certain embodiments of the invention,the cytokine-secreting line is a separate tumor line that is allogeneic to thepatient and genetically altered so as to produce a cytokine at an elevatedlevel. Exemplary cytokines are IL-4, GM-CSF, IL-2, TNF-.alpha., and M-CSF inthe secreted or membrane-bound form. In these embodiments, the cytokine-producing cells provide immunostimulation in trans to generate a specificimmune response against the tumor antigen. Vaccines may be tailored for eachtype of cancer or for each subject by mixing tumor antigen with a favorablenumber of cytokine-producing cells, or with a cocktail of such cells producinga plurality of cytokines at a favorable ratio.