• Dylan Daniel, Becky Yang, David A Lawrence, Klara Totpal, Inessa Balter, Wyne P Lee, Alvin Gogineni, Mary J Cole, Sharon Fong Yee, Sarajane Ross, and Avi Ashkenazi.
• Department of Molecular Oncology, Genentech, South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA.
• Blood. 2007 Dec 1; 110 (12): 4037-46.

AbstractRecombinant human rhApo2L/TRAIL selectively stimulates apoptosis in various cancer cells through its receptors DR4 and DR5, and is currently in clinical trials. Preclinical studies have established antitumor activity of rhApo2L/TRAIL in models of epithelial cancers; however, efficacy in non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) models is not well studied. Of 7 NHL cell lines tested in vitro, rhApo2L/TRAIL stimulated apoptosis in BJAB, Ramos RA1, and DoHH-2 cells. Rituximab, a CD20 antibody used to treat certain types of NHL, augmented rhApo2L/TRAIL-induced caspase activation in Ramos RA1 and DoHH2 but not BJAB or SC-1 cells, through modulation of intrinsic rather than extrinsic apoptosis signaling. In vivo, rhApo2L/TRAIL and rituximab cooperated to attenuate or reverse growth of tumor xenografts of all 4 of these cell lines. Depletion of natural killer (NK) cells or serum complement substantially reduced combined efficacy against Ramos RA1 tumors, suggesting involvement of antibody-dependent cell- and complement-mediated cytotoxicity. Both agents exhibited greater activity against disseminated than subcutaneous BJAB xenografts, and worked together to inhibit or abolish disseminated tumors and increase survival. Moreover, rhApo2L/TRAIL helped circumvent acquired rituximab resistance of a Ramos variant. These findings provide a strong rationale for clinical investigation of rhApo2L/TRAIL in combination with rituximab as a novel strategy for NHL therapy.

51 keywords...

hide…