Immunogenicity of oncolytic vaccinia viruses JX-GFP and TG6002 in a human melanoma in vitro model: studying immunogenic cell death, dendritic cell maturation and interaction with cytotoxic T lymphocytes.

Oncolytic virotherapy is an emerging immunotherapeutic modality for cancer treatment. Oncolytic viruses with genetic modifications can further enhance the oncolytic effects on tumor cells and stimulate antitumor immunity. The oncolytic vaccinia viruses JX-594-GFP+/hGM-CSF (JX-GFP) and TG6002 are genetically modified by secreting granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) or transforming 5-fluorocytosine (5-FC) into 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). We compared their properties to kill tumor cells and induce an immunogenic type of cell death in a human melanoma cell model using SK29-MEL melanoma cells. Their influence on human immune cells, specifically regarding the activation of dendritic cells (DCs) and the interaction with the autologous cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) clone, was investigated. Melanoma cells were infected with either JX-GFP or TG6002 alone or in combination with 5-FC and 5-FU. The influence of viral infection on cell viability followed a time- and multiplicity of infection dependent manner. Combination of virus treatment with 5-FU resulted in stronger reduction of cell viability. TG6002 in combination with 5-FC did not significantly strengthen the reduction of cell viability in this setting. Expression of calreticulin and high mobility group 1 protein (HMGB1), markers of immunogenic cell death (ICD), could be detected after viral infection. Accordingly, DC maturation was noted after viral oncolysis. DCs presented stronger expression of activation and maturation markers. The autologous CTL clone IVSB expressed the activation marker CD69, but viral treatment failed to enhance cytotoxicity marker. In summary, vaccinia viruses JX-GFP and TG6002 lyse melanoma cells and induce additional immunostimulatory effects to promote antitumor immune response. Further investigation in vivo is needed to consolidate the data.

Vectorized gene therapy of liver tumors: proof-of-concept of TG4023 (MVA-FCU1) in combination with flucytosine.

Background: TG4023 is a modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) containing the yeast-originated transgene FCU1, expressing cytosine deaminase and uracil phosphoribosyltransferase enzymes that transform the prodrug flucytosine (5-FC) into cytotoxic 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and 5-fluorouridine-5'-monophosphate, respectively. This first-in-human study aimed to assess the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of intratumoral (IT) TG4023 and the safety, feasibility, and proof-of-concept (PoC) of TG4023/5-FC combination to deliver high 5-FU concentrations in tumors. Patients and Methods: Cancer patients without further therapeutic option and with at least one injectable primary or metastatic liver tumor underwent on day 1 a percutaneous IT injection of TG4023 at doses of 107, 108, or 4.108 plaque forming units (p.f.u.) using ultrasound imaging guidance, after a dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs)-driven 3 + 3 dose-escalating design. On day 2, patients were given intravenous and/or oral 5-FC at a dose of 200 mg/kg/day for 14 days and were followed for safety through day 43. Tumor response was assessed at week 6, according to RECIST. Plasma and tumor 5-FU concentrations were measured to establish the PoC. Results: In total, 16 patients completed treatment with TG4023 and 5-FC. One DLT/7 patients (ALT/aspartate aminotransferase transient increase) was observed at 4 × 108 p.f.u.; MTD was therefore not reached. The most frequent adverse events were pyrexia, asthenia, vomiting, and decreased appetite. Eight of 16 patients had stable disease. Mean 5-FU concentrations in plasma were 1.9 ± 2.6 ng/ml and 56 ± 30 ng/g in tumors. Seroconversion for anti-FCU1 antibodies was found for one patient from each cohort (16%, overall). Conclusions: This phase I study demonstrated that IT injections of TG4023 were feasible and well tolerated; MTD was defined as 4 × 108 p.f.u. Therapeutic 5-FU concentrations in tumors established the virus-directed enzyme-prodrug therapy PoC. Clinicaltrials.gov Number: NCT00978107.

Adenovirus-mediated gene transfer of pathogen-associated molecular patterns for cancer immunotherapy.

The delivery of stimulatory signals to dendritic cells (DCs) in the tumor microenvironment could be an effective means to break tumor-induced tolerance. The work presented here evaluates the immunostimulatory properties of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), microbial molecules which bind Toll-like receptors and deliver activating signals to immune cells, when expressed in tumor cells using adenoviral (Ad) vectors. In vitro, transduction of A549 tumor cells with Ad vectors expressing either flagellin from Listeria monocytogenes or P40 protein from Klebsiella pneumoniae induced the maturation of human monocyte-derived DCs in co-cultures. In mixed lymphocyte reactions (MLRs), Ad-flagellin and Ad-P40 transduction of tumor cells stimulated lymphocyte proliferation and the secretion of IFN-gamma. In vivo, these vectors were used either as stand-alone immunoadjuvants injected intratumorally or as vaccine adjuvants combined with a tumor antigen-expressing vector. When Ad-PAMPs were administered intratumorally to mice bearing subcutaneous syngeneic B16F0-CAR (cocksackie-adenovirus receptor) melanomas, tumor progression was transiently inhibited by Ad-P40. In a therapeutic vaccine setting, the combination of Ad-MUC1 and Ad-PAMP vectors injected subcutaneously delayed the growth of implanted RenCa-MUC1 tumors and improved tumor rejection when compared with vaccination with Ad-MUC1 alone. These results suggest that Ad-PAMPs could be effective immunoadjuvants for cancer immunotherapy.

Targeted delivery of a suicide gene to human colorectal tumors by a conditionally replicating vaccinia virus.

We have generated a thymidine kinase gene-deleted vaccinia virus (VV) (Copenhagen strain) that expressed the fusion suicide gene FCU1 derived from the yeast cytosine deaminase and uracil phosphoribosyltransferase genes. Intratumoral inoculation of this thymidine kinase gene-deleted VV encoding FCU1 (VV-FCU1) in the presence of systemically administered prodrug 5-fluorocytosine (5-FC) produced statistically significant reductions in the growth of subcutaneous human colon cancer in nude mice compared with thymidine kinase gene-deleted VV treatments or with control 5-fluorouracil alone. A limitation of prodrug therapies has often been the requirement for the direct injection of the virus into relatively large, accessible tumors. Here we demonstrate vector targeting of tumors growing subcutaneously following systemic administration of VV-FCU1. More importantly we also demonstrate that the systemic injection of VV-FCU1 in nude mice bearing orthotopic liver metastasis of a human colon cancer, with concomitant administration of 5-FC, leads to substantial tumor growth retardation. In conclusion, the insertion of the fusion FCU1 suicide gene potentiates the oncolytic efficiency of the thymidine kinase gene-deleted VV and represents a potentially efficient means for gene therapy of distant metastasis from colon and other cancers.

Modified vaccinia virus Ankara as a vector for suicide gene therapy.

Modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) has been used successfully to express various antigens for the development of vaccines. Here we show that MVA can also be used as an efficient vector for the transfer of suicide genes to cancer cells. We have generated a new and highly potent suicide gene, FCU1, which encodes a fusion protein derived from the yeast cytosine deaminase and uracil phosphoribosyltransferase genes. We now describe the therapeutic benefit of using MVA to deliver and express the FCU1 gene in cancer cells. MVA-mediated transfer of the FCU1 gene to various human tumor cells results in the production of a bifunctional intracellular enzyme, such that exposure to the prodrug 5-FC suppresses the growth of the tumor cells both in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, we report a more potent tumor growth delay at lower doses of 5-FC using MVA-FCU1 in comparison to adenovirus encoding FCU1. Prolonged therapeutic levels of cytotoxic 5-FU were detected in tumors in mice treated with both MVA-FCU1 and 5-FC while no detectable 5-FU was found in the circulation. This original combination between MVA and FCU1 represents a potentially safe and attractive therapeutic option to test in man.

Targeting of adenovirus vectors carrying a tumor cell-specific peptide: in vitro and in vivo studies.

Previously, we have identified a tumor cell-specific peptide, HEW, by panning of phage display libraries on the human colorectal cancer cell line WiDr. In this report we demonstrate that this peptide can modify the infection properties of adenovirus vectors. Increased infectivity of replication-deficient adenovirus 5 vectors in WiDr cells was observed upon genetic insertion of the HEW peptide in the HI loop of the fiber knob. Moreover, whereas the coxsackie and adenovirus receptor (CAR)-ablating fiber mutation S408E abolished apparent infection in CAR-positive WiDr cells, the insertion of HEW completely restored infectivity toward these cells in vitro. To assess whether the de- and re-targeted infection profile was maintained in vivo, the fiber-modified adenovirus vectors were injected intratumorally or intravenously in WiDr tumor-bearing Swiss nu/nu mice. No significant differences in efficiency of infection could be observed suggesting alternative viral uptake mechanisms in vivo. Next, we have included the fiber shaft mutation S(*) in our studies, which was described to confer a de-targeted phenotype in vivo. Reduced gene transfer due to the S(*) mutation both in vitro and in vivo could be confirmed. Insertion of HEW in the HI knob loop of shaft-mutated fiber, however, did not rescue infectivity in target cells neither in vitro nor in vivo. We demonstrate the efficient ligand-mediated re-targeting of adenoviral vector infection to the human cancer cell line WiDr. The lack of apparent re-targeting in the in vivo situation is described.

In vivo cancer gene therapy by adenovirus-mediated transfer of a bifunctional yeast cytosine deaminase/uracil phosphoribosyltransferase fusion gene.

Direct transfer of prodrug activation systems into tumors was demonstrated to be an attractive method for the selective in vivo elimination of tumor cells. However, most current suicide gene therapy strategies are still handicapped by a poor efficiency of in vivo gene transfer and a limited bystander cell killing effect. In this study, we describe a novel and highly potent suicide gene derived from the Saccharomyces cerevisiae cytosine deaminase (FCY1) and uracil phosphoribosyltransferase genes (FUR1). This suicide gene, designated FCU1, encodes a bifunctional chimeric protein that combines the enzymatic activities of FCY1 and FUR1 and efficiently catalyzes the direct conversion of 5-FC, a nontoxic antifungal agent, into the toxic metabolites 5-fluorouracil and 5-fluorouridine-5'monophosphate, thus bypassing the natural resistance of certain human tumor cells to 5-fluorouracil. Unexpectedly, although the uracil phosphoribosyltransferase activity of FCU1 was equivalent to that encoded by FUR1, its cytosine deaminase activity was 100-fold higher than the one encoded by FCY1. As a consequence, tumor cells transduced with an adenovirus expressing FCU1 (Ad-FCU1) were sensitive to concentrations of 5-FC 1000-fold lower than the ones used for cells transduced with a vector expressing FCY1 (Ad-FCY1). Furthermore, bystander cell killing was also more effective in cells transduced with Ad-FCU1 than in cultures infected with Ad-FCY1 or Ad-FUR1, alone or in combination. Finally, intratumoral injections of Ad-FCU1 into allo- or xenogeneic tumors implanted s.c. into mice, with concomitant systemic administration of 5-FC, led to substantial delays in tumor growth. These unique properties make of the FCU1/5-FC prodrug activation system a novel and powerful candidate for cancer gene therapy strategies.

New insights into the pyrimidine salvage pathway of Saccharomyces cerevisiae: requirement of six genes for cytidine metabolism.

Cytidine metabolism in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was analyzed by genetic and biochemical approaches. Disruption of a unique ORF (Genbank accession No. U 20865) bearing homology with eucaryotic or bacterial cytidine deaminases abolished cytidine deaminase activity and resulted in 5-fluorocytidine resistance. The gene encoding cytidine deaminase will be referred to as CDD1 (Genbank accession number AF080089). The ability to isolate mutants resistant to 5-fluorocytidine which mapped to five other loci demonstrated the existence of a complex cytidine metabolic network. Deciphering this network revealed several original features:(1) cytidine entry is mediated by the purine-cytosine transporter (Fcy2p),(2) cytidine is cleaved into cytosine by the uridine nucleosidase (Urh1p),(3) cytidine is phosphorylated into CMP by the uridine kinase (Urk1p),(4) a block in cytosine deaminase (Fcy1p), but not in cytidine deaminase (Cdd1p), constitutes a limiting step in cytidine utilisation as a UMP precursor.

Active site mapping of yeast aspartyl-tRNA synthetase by in vivo selection of enzyme mutations lethal for cell growth.

The active site of yeast aspartyl-tRNA synthetase has been characterised by structural and functional approaches. However, residues or structural elements that indirectly contribute to the active site organisation have still to be described. They have not been assessed by simple analysis of structural data or site-directed mutagenesis analysis, since rational targetting has proven difficult. Here, we attempt to locate these functional features by using a genetic selection method to screen a randomly mutated yeast AspRS library for mutations lethal for cell growth. This approach is an efficient method to map the active site residues, since of the 23 different mutations isolated, 13 are in direct contact with the substrates. Most of the mutations are located in a 15 A radius sphere around the ATP molecule, where they affect the very conserved residues of the class-defining motifs. The results also showed the importance of the dimer interface for the enzyme activity: a single mutation of the invariant proline residue of motif 1 led to a structural defect inactivating the enzyme. From in vivo complementation studies it appeared that the enzyme activity can be recovered by reconstitution of an intact interface through the formation of heterodimers. We also show that a single mutation affecting an interaction with G34 of the tRNA can inactivate the enzyme by inducing a relaxation of the tRNA recognition specificity. Finally, several mutants whose functional importance could not be assessed from the structural data were selected, demonstrating the importance of this type of approach in the context of a structure-function relationship study.

In vivo mutational analysis of highly conserved amino acid residues of the small subunit Cpa1p of the carbamylphosphate synthetase of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The role of selected amino acid residues located in the putative catalytic domain and of two conserved histidine residues within the small subunit of the carbamylphosphate synthetase (CPS) specific to the arginine biosynthesis pathway of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was studied using site-directed mutagenesis to change all residues to aspartic acid. Carbamylphosphate synthesis catalysed by modified CPS was tested in vivo. The C264D, H307D and H349D mutants were unable to grow on minimal medium, indicating the importance of these three residues for efficient CPS activity, whereas, four other mutated residues located in the catalytic site (including a proline residue) do not affect the growth rate. These results in comparison to those obtained with the CPS of Escherichia coli, implicate residues Cys 264 and His 349 in the glutaminase catalytic activity, and His 307 in the binding of glutamine to the active site. Using these three defective mutants, we investigated the in vivo utilization of ammonia by CPS. C264D and H307D mutants are able to use ammonia as a substrate when provided in sufficiently high concentrations (up to 200 mM). The H349D mutant, however, did not grow even at ammonium sulfate concentrations above 400 mM, suggesting that this substitution is critical to NH3-dependent CPS activity although the ammonia binding site is presumably located within the large subunit of the enzyme.

Characterization of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae FCY1 gene encoding cytosine deaminase and its homologue FCA1 of Candida albicans.

By functional complementation of a fcy1 null mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we have cloned and characterized the FCY1 gene, encoding cytosine deaminase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and its homologue FCA1, encoding cytosine deaminase in Candida albicans. Disruption of FCY1 resulted in high resistance to 5-fluorocytosine (10(-2) M) and in total loss of cytosine deaminase activity. By contrast the transformation by FCY1 or FCA1 of the haploid FCY1-disrupted host strain restored sensitivity to 5-fluorocytosine and allowed growth on cytosine, as a source of pyrimidine, or ammonium. FCA1 as opposed to FCY1 contains an intron. FCA1 and FCY1 encode respectively 150- and 158- residue proteins of 60% identity. Both Fcy1p and Fca1p share common motifs with cytidine and CMP deaminases, but homology with cytosine deaminase of E. coli could not be detected.

Identification of a proacrosin precursor in the cell-free translation of boar testicular poly(A)(+)-mRNA.

A cell-free translation system was used to determine the molecular mass of the protein component of precursor(s) to boar proacrosin. Poly(A)(+)-mRNA was extracted from freshly excised boar testis into phenol/chloroform, precipitated in chilled (-20 degrees C) ethanol, then translated in a cell-free, reticulocyte lysate system with Tran 35S-label. Analysis of the resulting products by SDS-PAGE followed by autoradiography demonstrated multiple bands of translated proteins. Both Western blotting and immunoprecipitation with a specific polyclonal antibody to boar proacrosin yielded a single major band with a relative molecular weight of approximately 64,000. These results suggest that proacrosin (Mr = 53,000-55,000), which contains both protein and carbohydrate moieties, results from the cellular processing of a proacrosin precursor molecule.