Safety levels of systemic IL-12 induced by cDNA expression as a cancer therapeutic

Aim: The aim of this work is to utilize a gene expression procedure to safely express systemic IL-12 and evaluate its effects in mouse tumor models. Materials & methods: Secondary lymphoid organs and tumors from EL4 and B16 tumor-bearing mice were analyzed by supervised and unsupervised methods. Results: IL-12 cDNA induced systemic IL-12 protein levels lower than the tolerated dose in patients. Control of tumor growth was observed in subcutaneous B16 and EL4 tumors. Systemic IL-12 expression induced a higher frequency of both total tumor-infiltrated CD45⁺ cells and proliferative IFN-γ⁺CD8⁺ T cells along with a lower frequency of CD4⁺FOXP3⁺ and CD11b⁺Gr-1⁺ cells. Conclusion: This approach characterizes the systemic effects of IL-12, helping to improve treatment of metastases or solid tumors.