Glioblastoma is the most aggressive
primary brain tumor and its prognosis remains poor despite different treatment modalities including surgery,
radiotherapy and
chemotherapy. Therefore, more useful treatments for
glioblastoma patients are required. Human
interleukin 15 (hIL15) is an
immunomodulator that has antitumor activities. hIL15 combined with gene therapy method is also currently under cosideration as a treatment option. Since recombinant adeno-associated virus serotype 2 (rAAV2) with low immunogenicity and long-term gene expression in human clinical trials has been demonstrated, rAAV2 encoding hIL15 (rAAV2-hIL15) were used to inhibit human
glioblastoma growth in the present study. rAAV2-hIL15, which is able to express
IL15 protein with bioactivity, was successfully produced and purified. Data of this study demonstrated that the long-term expression of rAAV2-hIL15 enhances
immunoglobulin (Ig) production and the cytotoxic activity of lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells. In addition, results of the present study showed that rAAV2-hIL15 delays
tumor growth on a xenografted human
glioblastoma mice model. Taken together, these results indicated that rAAV2-hIL15 constitutes a powerful and potent gene
immunotherapy method for human
glioblastoma treatment.