adenoviral CD40L + IL-2 CLL vaccine

The adenoviral CD40L + IL-2 CLL vaccine is an autologous, gene-modified tumor cell vaccine developed for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). It consists of a patient's own leukemia cells that have been transduced ex vivo with replication-incompetent adenoviral vectors (Ad5) encoding human CD40 ligand (CD40L, CD154) and human interleukin-2 (IL-2). The expression of CD40L on the CLL cells triggers the CD40 signaling pathway, leading to the up-regulation of co-stimulatory molecules such as CD80, CD86, and CD54, which transforms the typically poorly immunogenic CLL cells into effective antigen-presenting cells. Simultaneously, the secretion of IL-2 promotes the expansion and activation of leukemia-reactive T cells. This dual approach aims to overcome immune tolerance and induce a robust systemic anti-leukemia immune response. Clinical studies have demonstrated that this adenoviral gene transfer strategy is more effective at inducing Th1-polarized T-cell and humoral immune responses compared to plasmid-based methods.

Other names

autologous CLL tumor vaccine expressing CD40L and IL-2Ad-CD40L + IL-2 vaccine