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626 Chapter 12: Gene Therapy<br />

envision a clinical plan as outlined in Fig. 2. Patients will possess the diagnosis of<br />

acute myeloid leukemia, established by peripheral <strong>blood</strong> <strong>and</strong>/or bone <strong>marrow</strong><br />

morphologic <strong>and</strong> flow cytometric analysis, <strong>and</strong> be of poor prognosis as determined<br />

by adverse cytogenetics. Patients will be entered on study at the time of an initial<br />

presentation of a new hematologic malignancy or at the time of presentation with<br />

an untreated relapse. A volume of peripheral <strong>blood</strong> will be obtained, not exceeding<br />

250 mL, which should allow for isolation of approximately 1-10X10 9<br />

blast cells.<br />

Blood will be depleted of erythrocytes, <strong>and</strong> the mononuclear cell component,<br />

including the malignant population, will be isolated. Cells will be infected with a<br />

VPC comprising a replication incompetent adenoviral vector carrying the CD80<br />

(B7.1) <strong>and</strong>/or GM-CSF genes. After infection, a sample of the product will be<br />

assayed to assess gene transfer efficiency, the ability to stimulate CTLs in vitro,<br />

<strong>and</strong> sterility. The resulting infected tumor cell product will be irradiated <strong>and</strong><br />

cryopreserved in aliquots, in anticipation of later use as a leukemia vaccine. After<br />

st<strong>and</strong>ard induction <strong>and</strong> consolidation chemotherapy, patients whose infected tumor<br />

cells generated CTLs in vitro would then begin vaccine therapy. Cryopreserved<br />

cells will be thawed <strong>and</strong> administered using a dose escalation design. Part of the<br />

dosing strategy will be to explore the optimal time interval for administration of the<br />

vaccine. Objective response to the vaccine will be assessed by assays for cytolytic<br />

T cell populations specific for the tumor clone. Overall <strong>and</strong> disease-free survival<br />

will be calculated from the date of accrual. Major endpoints of this clinical trial<br />

include safety to patients, monitoring qualitative <strong>and</strong> quantitative immune function,<br />

inducing tumor-specific CTLs, <strong>and</strong> assessing time to relapse.<br />

Clinical Implementation Plan<br />

AML patient<br />

1 —<br />

St<strong>and</strong>ard<br />

Therapy<br />

1<br />

Immune Reconstitution<br />

1<br />

Vaccinate<br />

I<br />

• Safety<br />

•CTL induction<br />

•Time to relapse<br />

==- 250 mis Blood<br />

VPC infect<br />

Recovery<br />

Irradiate<br />

Cryopreserve<br />

12-24 hour<br />

processing<br />

In vitro testing:<br />

•Gene transfer<br />

•Immunology<br />

•safety<br />

Figure 2. Clinical implementation plan for the use ofVPCs to generate gene-modified tumor<br />

cell vaccines.

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