Biological effects of recombinant human tumor necrosis factor and its novel muteins on tumor and normal cell lines

We investigated optimal conditions for cytotoxicity to tumor cell lines by recombinant human tumor necrosis factor (rhTNF) and the effect of amino-terminal deletions on the bioactivity of the rhTNF molecule. Two of four deletion muteins (-4 and -7) of rhTNF exhibit 2- to 3-fold enhancement of cytotoxicity/cytostasis against a variety of human carcinomas, a fibrosarcoma, and a melanoma cell line with no toxicity on normal fibroblastic and epithelial cultures. Of the two other muteins the -8 displayed equivalent and/or increased cytotoxicity/cytostasis while the -10 was consistently less cytotoxic than the parent on the same cell lines. Continuous exposure to TNF for greater than or equal to 96 h led to maximal cytotoxicity to tumor lines (99.99% with L929 cells) with no evidence of recovery. Pretreatment with actinomycin D (0.003-10 micrograms/ml for 1 h) rendered 82% of rhTNF-resistant cell lines (both tumor and normal) susceptible to its cytotoxic action within 24 h. However, the highest nontoxic concentrations of Actinomycin D necessary for rendering normal cell lines susceptible to TNF action were about 10-3000-fold higher than those necessary for converting resistant tumor cell lines. Similarly, preinfection of L929 cells with vesicular stomatitis virus (multiplicity of infection, 10(-2)-10(-4) for 1 h) rendered the cells 2-10-fold more susceptible to the cytotoxic action of rhTNF in 18 h. Our data suggest that rhTNF and its muteins represent potentially useful anticancer agents; however, adequate dosing and prolonged exposure may be critical in demonstrating cytotoxicity/cytostasis. The data also show that although normal and tumor cell lines became susceptible to cytotoxicity by rhTNF and actinomycin D, combination therapy of the two agents may be possible at defined concentrations.