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Salmonella typhimurium engineered to produce CCL21 inhibit tumor growth

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Abstract

Intravenously-applied bacteria tend to accumulate in tumors and can sporadically lead to tumor regression. Systemic administration of attenuated Salmonella typhimurium is safe and has shown no significant adverse effects in humans. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that engineering S. typhimurium to express a chemokine, CCL21, would increase anti-tumor activity. We engineered an attenuated strain of S. typhimurium to produce the chemokine CCL21. Attenuated S. typhimurium expressing CCL21 significantly inhibited the growth of primary tumors and pulmonary metastases in preclinical models of multi-drug-resistant murine carcinomas, while control bacteria did not. Histological analysis of tumors showed marked inflammatory cell infiltrates in mice treated with CCL21-expressing but not control bacteria. Levels of cytokines and chemokines known to be induced by CCL21 [e.g., interferon-γ (INFγ), CXCL9, and CXCL10] were significantly elevated in tumors of mice treated with CCL21-expressing but not control S. typhimurium. The anti-tumor activity was found to be dependent on CD4- and CD8-expressing cells, based on antibody-mediated in vivo immuno-depletion experiments. Anti-tumor activity was achieved without evidence of toxicity. In summary, chemokine-expressing, attenuated bacteria may provide a novel approach to cancer immunotherapy for effective and well-tolerated in vivo delivery of immunomodulatory proteins.

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Acknowledgments

We thank M. Hanaii and T. Siegfried for manuscript preparation, M. Cuddy for manuscript review, Dr W. Z. Wei for D2F2 cells, and Dr G. Valbuena for CXCL9 and CXCL10 antibodies. We also acknowledge the generous support of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, APART Fellowship Program (M. Loeffler) and the NIH (CA-69381) (J. C. Reed).

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Correspondence to John C. Reed.

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Markus Loeffler and John C. Reed should be considered senior authors.

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Loeffler, M., Le’Negrate, G., Krajewska, M. et al. Salmonella typhimurium engineered to produce CCL21 inhibit tumor growth. Cancer Immunol Immunother 58, 769–775 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00262-008-0555-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00262-008-0555-9

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