Induction of chick interferon: procedures of the original experiments

Melanoma treatment in review

Melanoma represents the most aggressive and the deadliest form of skin cancer. Current therapeutic approaches include surgical resection, chemotherapy, photodynamic therapy, immunotherapy, biochemotherapy, and targeted therapy. The therapeutic strategy can include single agents or combined therapies, depending on the patient’s health, stage, and location of the tumor. The efficiency of these treatments can be decreased due to the development of diverse resistance mechanisms. New therapeutic targets have emerged from studies of the genetic profile of melanocytes and from the identification of molecular factors involved in the pathogenesis of the malignant transformation. In this review, we aim to survey therapies approved and under evaluation for melanoma treatment and relevant research on the molecular mechanisms underlying melanomagenesis.

Role of interferon in melanoma: old hopes and new perspectives

INTRODUCTION

Interferons (IFNs) play a key role in modulating anti-microbial and antitumor immune responses. In oncology, past attempts to exploit IFNs therapeutically did not fulfill expectations, and had only modest clinical results, mostly limited to adjuvant melanoma treatment. The recent successes of immunotherapy in oncology have brought new attention to the potential of immune-modulatory agents like the IFNs. Areas covered: The authors review the biological effects of IFN on melanoma and immune cells. Then, the authors summarize the clinical results of adjuvant and therapeutic IFN in melanoma, giving focus to possible prognostic factors and new on-going clinical trials. Expert opinion: IFNs offer intriguing opportunities for synergism between conventional treatments and recently introduced molecular-targeted and immunotherapy approaches. However, the full comprehension of all IFN effects and their multiple biologic links is challenging. A strong commitment toward parallel translational research is needed to facilitate the interpretation of IFN's expected and unexpected effects, guiding the rational design of informative clinical studies.

The Receptor for Type I IFNs Is Highly Expressed on Peripheral Blood B Cells and Monocytes and Mediates a Distinct Profile of Differentiation and Activation of These Cells

Type I interferons (IFNs) are potent regulators of both innate and adaptive immunity. All type I IFNs bind to the same heterodimeric cell surface receptor composed of IFN-alpha receptor (IFNAR-1) and IFN-alpha/beta receptor (IFNAR-2) polypeptides. This study revealed that type I IFN receptor levels vary considerably on hematopoietic cells, with monocytes and B cells expressing the highest levels. Overnight treatment of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) with IFN-alpha2b or IFN-beta led to increased expression on monocytes and B cells of surface markers commonly associated with activated antigen-presenting cells (APCs), such as CD38, CD86, MHC class I, and MHC class II. Five-day exposure of adherent monocytes to granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) plus IFN-alpha or IFN-beta caused the development of potent allostimulatory cells with morphology similar to that of myeloid dendritic cells (DCs) obtained from culture with GM-CSF and interleukin-4 (IL-4) but with distinct cell surface marker profiles and activity. In contrast to IL-4-derived DCs, IFN-alpha-derived DCs were CD14+, CD1a-, CD123+, CD32+, and CD38+ and expressed high levels of CD86 and MHC class II. Development of these cells was completely blocked by an antibody to IFNAR-1. Furthermore, activity of the type I IFN-derived DC in a mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) was consistently more potent than that of IL-4-derived DCs, especially at high responder/stimulator ratios. This MLR activity was abrogated by the addition of anti-IFNAR-1 antibody at the start of the DC culture. In contrast, there was no effect of anti-IFNAR-1 on IL-4-derived DCs, indicating that this is a distinct pathway of DC differentiation. These results suggest a potential role for anti-IFNAR-1 immunotherapy in autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), in which the action of excessive type I IFN on B cells and myeloid DCs may play a role in disease pathology.

Human natural interferon-alpha producing cells

Interferons (IFNs) are critical components of the host immune system, serving as antiviral agents, immunomodulators and inhibitors of cell growth. Among peripheral blood mononuclear cells, the primary IFN-alpha-producing cell is a light density, HLA-DR+ cell negative for cell surface markers typical for T cells, B cells, monocytes, natural-killer or progenitor cells and has been tentatively termed the 'natural IFN-producing cell' or NIPC. Although present in very low frequency (approximately 1:1000 among peripheral blood mononuclear cells), the NIPC are very potent, with an individual cell able to produce 1-2 IU of IFN. In this review, the characteristics, phenotype, regulation and relationship of NIPC to human disease are discussed.

Biological activities of recombinant murine interferons alpha 1 and alpha 4: large difference in antiproliferative effect

The mature forms of two recombinant murine interferons alpha, alpha 1 and alpha 4, have been expressed in vitro using an established transcription and translation system. The relative specific antiviral activity, antiproliferative activity and the natural killer cell stimulating activity of both subtypes were compared in vitro. While the antiviral and natural killer cell stimulating activities of the 2 subtypes were similar, the relative antiproliferative activities varied markedly. On the basis of equal molar inputs, MuIFN-alpha 1 had less than 8% of the antiproliferative activity of MuIFN-alpha 4. This data shows that a large functional difference exists between these two subtypes which are known to be expressed at different levels in mouse L-cells in vitro.