12 RESEARCH .'\: DEYELOP\IENT

New hope for women with IllebNatic breast cancer?

Following encouraging results in preclinical tests, researchers in the US hope to initiate a phase I trial of interleukin 2 (IL-2)-based gene therapy in women with stage IV breast cancer, pending FDA approval.

H. Kim Lyerly and colleagues, from Duke University Medical Center, Durham, US, presented their preclinical work at the annual Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons. They reported that the development of lung metastases in a murine model of metastatic breast cancer was greatly inhibited in mice injected with breast cancer cells genetically altered to secrete IL-2.

Mice receiving the genetically-altered cells developed an average of 32 metastatic nodules and the average lung weight remained below loomg, while control mice had> 100 metastatic nodules and average lung weights of 350-600mg.

The phase I trial is planned to involve 20 women, each of whom will be treated with her own breast cancer cells that have been genetically manipulated to secrete IL-2. It is hoped that this new approach will improve survival after excision of primary breast tumours. Chi·Lwn BI. Surgeons try immune therapy for breast cancer. Journal of the American Medical Association 272: 1485. 16 Nov 1994 IDOl 1_

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