Gene-Engineered and Targeted Stem Cell Therapy for Myeloma

描述（由申请人提供）：目前多发性骨髓瘤（MM）治疗的进展导致了高缓解率；然而，所有患者最终都会复发并死于这种疾病。骨髓微环境中的细胞作为骨髓瘤生长和肿瘤表现的调节因子密切参与疾病过程。MM细胞通过触发骨髓中核因子- B配体受体激活剂（RANKL）的协调增加和骨保护素（OPG）的减少来增强骨吸收。此外，破骨细胞通过破骨细胞的骨桥蛋白和MM细胞的血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）的协同作用，促进MM细胞的血管生成。血管生成作用进一步促进骨破坏和MM细胞扩增之间的恶性循环。因此，开发新的靶向治疗方法来消除溶骨性骨破坏、MM细胞生长和肿瘤血管生成的相关病理等关键事件，将有助于更好地管理该疾病并提高患者的生存率。本提案的总体目标是开发一种新的骨髓瘤治疗模式，通过针对这些事件的靶向治疗控制骨病，肿瘤血管生成和肿瘤细胞将有助于控制骨髓瘤的进展。我们最近开发了一种将基因转导的间充质干细胞用于骨富集归巢的新方法，并证明了这种经过修饰表达OPG的间充质干细胞在预防溶骨性骨损伤方面的潜力。此外，通过使用重组腺相关病毒载体（rAAV）编码内皮抑素和血管抑素，我们证明了肿瘤生长的显著延迟和长期生存的增加。在拟议的研究中，我们将确定这些疗法在逐步联合化疗中对MM小鼠模型的影响，该模型与人类疾病病理非常相似。拟议研究的结果将引导我们进入下一阶段，我们将设计旨在改善骨髓瘤相关骨病的治疗方案，并测试治疗在预防骨髓瘤复发和人类患者疾病进展方面的疗效。公共卫生相关性：多发性骨髓瘤是一种以骨髓浆细胞浸润和生长为特征的b细胞恶性肿瘤。MM患者在颅骨、肋骨、椎骨、骨盆和肢体长骨中发生永久性的溶骨性骨病，以骨痛、病理性骨折和高钙血症为特征，使其成为发病的主要原因。尽管用于治疗MM患者的化疗方案取得了进展，但诊断出该疾病后的中位生存期约为3年。因此，需要开发针对骨髓瘤细胞生长和增殖的多种事件的新疗法，包括骨微环境和肿瘤血管，以提高患者的生存率。本研究的中心假设是，通过稳定表达OPG来抑制破骨细胞活性的骨靶向基因工程MSC治疗将是减少MM骨溶解性病变的有效治疗方法。通过将OPG治疗与肿瘤靶向化疗和肿瘤血管培养靶向抗血管生成基因治疗相结合，我们寻求在临床前小鼠模型中建立一种新的MM治疗范式。这些研究的成功完成将使我们能够启动一期人体临床试验。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Current advances in the treatment of multiple myeloma (MM) have resulted in a high rate of remissions; however, all patients eventually relapse and succumb to the disease. Cells in the bone marrow microenvironment are intimately involved in the disease process as regulators of myeloma growth and tumor manifestations. MM cells enhance bone resorption by triggering a coordinated increase in the receptor activator of nuclear factor-: B ligand (RANKL) and a decrease in osteoprotegerin (OPG) in the bone marrow. Further, osteoclasts enhance angiogenesis in concert with MM cells largely through the cooperative actions of osteopontin from osteoclasts and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) from MM cells. The angiogenic effect further facilitates the vicious cycle between bone destruction and MM cell expansion. Thus, development of new, targeted therapies to abrogate key events of osteolytic bone destruction, MM cell growth and associated pathology of tumor angiogenesis, will lead to better management of the disease and increase patient survival. The overall goal of this proposal is to develop a new paradigm of myeloma therapy, whereby control of bone disease, tumor angiogenesis and tumor cells by targeted therapies to these events will help to control myeloma progression. We recently developed a novel method for bone enriched homing of genetically transduced MSC and demonstrated the potential of such MSC, modified to express OPG, in preventing osteolytic bone damage. Further, by using a recombinant adeno-associated virus vector (rAAV) encoding endostatin and angiostatin, we demonstrated significant delay in tumor growth and increase in long-term survival. In the proposed studies, we will determine the effects of these therapies in step-wise combination with chemotherapy in a mouse model of MM, which closely mimics the human disease pathology. The results of the proposed study will lead us to the next stage in which we will design treatment protocols aimed at improving myeloma-related bone disease and test treatment efficacy in preventing myeloma relapses and disease progression in human patients. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Multiple myeloma is a B-cell malignancy characterized by the infiltration and growth of plasma cells in the bone marrow. Patients with MM develop osteolytic bone disease permanently in the skull, ribs, vertebrae, pelvis, and long bones of the limb, characterized by bone pain, pathologic fractures, and hypercalcemia, making this a major cause of morbidity. Despite advances in chemotherapy regimens used to treat patients with MM, the median length of survival after diagnosis of the disease is approximately three years. Thus, newer therapies targeting multiple events of myeloma cell growth and proliferation, including bone microenvironment and tumor vasculature need to be developed for increasing patient survival. The central hypothesis of the proposed work is bone-targeted, genetically engineered MSC therapy capable of inhibiting osteoclast activity by stable expression of OPG will be an effective treatment for decreasing osteolytic bone lesions in MM. By combining the OPG therapy with tumor-targeted chemotherapy and tumor vasculature-targeted anti-angiogenic gene therapy we seek to establish a novel treatment paradigm for MM in a preclinical mouse model. Successful completion of these studies will allow us to initiate phase-1 human clinical trials.