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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1990 Nov;87(21):8291–8295. doi: 10.1073/pnas.87.21.8291

The recombinant immunotoxin anti-Tac(Fv)-Pseudomonas exotoxin 40 is cytotoxic toward peripheral blood malignant cells from patients with adult T-cell leukemia.

R J Kreitman 1, V K Chaudhary 1, T Waldmann 1, M C Willingham 1, D J FitzGerald 1, I Pastan 1
PMCID: PMC54941  PMID: 2236041

Abstract

Anti-Tac(Fv)-PE40 is a recombinant single-chain immunotoxin containing the heavy and light variable regions of the anti-Tac monoclonal antibody fused to a mutant form of Pseudomonas exotoxin (PE). Anti-Tac binds to the p55 subunit of the human interleukin 2 (IL-2) receptor, and anti-Tac(Fv)-PE40 kills human or monkey cell lines that contain either the intact IL-2 receptor or its p55 subunit alone. To assess the usefulness of anti-Tac(Fv)-PE40 in treatment of IL-2 receptor-positive leukemia, we tested peripheral blood mononuclear cells from six patients with adult T-cell leukemia. In each of the six patients, anti-Tac(Fv)-PE40 was extremely cytotoxic to the malignant cells. Metabolic activity and sensitivity of the fresh cells improved when a small amount of IL-2 (10 units per ml) was present during incubation. The toxin concentration necessary to inhibit protein synthesis by 50% after 16-hr incubation of cells with immunotoxin varied from 1.6 to 16 ng/ml (2.5-25 x 10(-11) M). In every case, binding was by means of the Tac antigen because anti-Tac(Fv)-PE40 cytotoxicity was prevented by adding excess anti-Tac antibody. Moreover, anti-Tac alone or an inactive mutant of anti-Tac(Fv)-PE40 without ADP-ribosylation activity had very little cytotoxic activity. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from normal controls, from a patient with Tac-negative leukemia, and from adult T-cell leukemia patients without significant peripheral blood involvement were not sensitive to anti-Tac(Fv)-PE40. These results indicate that anti-Tac(Fv)-PE40 is a potent cytotoxin against adult T-cell leukemia cells in vitro and warrants clinical testing.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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