Background/aims: Adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL) is a very aggressive T cell malignancy that carries a poor prognosis, primarily due to its resistance to chemotherapy and to life-threatening infectious complications. Interferon-alpha (IFNα) has been used in combination with the anti-retroviral drug zidovudine to treat patients with ATL. However, the efficacy of long-term therapy is significantly limited due to the systemic toxicity of IFNα.
Methods: We utilized phage display library screening to identify short peptides that specifically bind to Jurkat T lymphocyte leukemia cells. By fusing the Jurkat-binding peptide to the C-terminus of IFNα, we constructed an engineered chimeric IFNα molecule (IFNP) for the treatment of ATL.
Results: We found that IFNP exhibited significantly higher activity than wild type IFNα in inhibiting the growth of leukemia cells and inducing cell blockage at the G0/G1 phase. The synthetic IFNP molecule exerted its antitumor activity by upregulating the downstream genes involved in the STAT1 pathway and in apoptosis. Using a cell receptor binding assay, we showed that this Jurkat-binding peptide facilitated the binding affinity of IFNα to the cell surface type I IFN receptor.
Conclusion: The isolated Jurkat-binding peptide significantly potentiates the therapeutic activity of IFNα in T lymphocyte leukemia cells. The engineered IFNP molecule may prove to a novel antitumor approach in the treatment of patients with ATL.
Keywords: Antitumor; Apoptosis; Cell proliferation; Interferon-alpha; Jurkat-binding peptide; Phage display; Synthetic interferon.
© 2017 The Author(s). Published by S. Karger AG, Basel.