plasmid human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor

Plasmid human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (pGM-CSF) is a DNA-based gene therapy and molecular adjuvant designed to express the human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) protein in vivo. Upon administration, typically through intramuscular or intratumoral injection (often facilitated by electroporation or lipid-mediated delivery), the plasmid enters host cells where it undergoes transcription and translation. The resulting GM-CSF cytokine acts as a potent immunostimulant that recruits and matures professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs), such as dendritic cells and macrophages, at the site of administration. This process enhances the priming and activation of T-cells against co-delivered vaccine antigens or endogenous tumor-associated antigens. While it has been extensively studied as a component of polyvalent DNA vaccines for infectious diseases like malaria and HIV, its primary clinical focus has been as a cancer immunotherapy, where it aims to break immune tolerance and stimulate a systemic anti-tumor response.

Other names

plasmid-encoded human GM-CSFGM-CSF DNA vaccinehuman GM-CSF plasmid expression vector