Patent ID: 6673573
Filing Date: 2004-01-06
Classification: A61P,C07K,C12N

Abstract:
Method for the expression of an immunoglobulin-cytokine fusion protein in malignant B cells in vitro, said method comprising:(a) introducing into a malignant B cell a vector comprising the following components operably linked together: (i) a region of at least 1.5 kb which is homologous to a region of the &mgr; intron or the &kgr; intron, (ii) at least one DNA sequence encoding a constant region of an immunoglobulin or a part of the constant region, (iii) a DNA sequence encoding a cytokine, and (iv) a marker gene which is selectable in eukaryotic B cells and contains a functional enhancer, whereby after homologous recombination said immunoglobulin-cytokine fusion protein is expressed, comprising the variable region of the endogenous immunoglobulin of said malignant B cell fused with said constant region of an immunoglobulin or a part of said constant region and said cytokine; and (b) treating the cells to render them replication-incompetent.