P21 expressing monocytes for cancer cell therapy

Abstract

Identification of effective targets alleviating the programmed cell removal (PrCR) of tumor cells by macrophages is of very high interest. The present inventors have identified that the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21 protein is a strong regulator of the macrophage-mediated PrCR. Also, they showed that the adoptive transfer of p21 overexpressing monocytes induces macrophage PrCR and transition from an anti-inflammatory to a pro-inflammatory phenotype in vivo, delays cancer progression and increases significantly the overall survival of mice engrafted with cancer cells. The present invention therefore concerns therapeutic compositions comprising monocytes that over-express the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21 protein, and their use for treating mammals suffering from cancer, especially leukemia.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.