Editorial of the Special Issue: Oncolytic Viruses as a Novel Form of Immunotherapy for Cancer

Dual-specificity tyrosine-regulated kinase 2 exerts anti-tumor effects by induction of G1 arrest in lung adenocarcinoma

OBJECTIVES

Lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related mortality and remains one of the most poorly prognosed disease worldwide. Therefore, it is necessary to identify novel molecular markers with potential therapeutic effects. Recent findings have suggested that dual-specificity tyrosine-regulated kinase 2 (DYRK2) plays a tumor suppressive role in colorectal, breast, and hepatic cancers; however, its effect and mechanism in lung cancer remain poorly understood. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the tumor-suppressive role and molecular mechanism of DYRK2 in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) by in vitro experiments and xenograft models.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The evaluation of DYRK2 expression was carried out using lung cancer cell lines and normal bronchial epithelial cells. Overexpression of DYRK2 was induced by an adenovirus vector, and cell proliferation was assessed through MTS assay and Colony Formation Assay. Cell cycle analysis was performed using flow cytometry. Additionally, proliferative capacity was evaluated in a xenograft model by subcutaneously implanting A549 cells into SCID mice (C·B17/Icr-scidjcl-scid/scid).

RESULTS

Immunoblotting assays showed that DYRK2 was downregulated in most LUAD cell lines. DYRK2 overexpression using adenovirus vectors significantly suppressed cell proliferation compared with that in the control group. Additionally, DYRK2 overexpression suppressed tumor growth in a murine subcutaneous xenograft model. Mechanistically, DYRK2 overexpression inhibited the proliferation of LUAD cells via p21-mediated G1 arrest, which was contingent on p53.

CONCLUSION

Taken together, these findings suggest that DYRK2 may serve as potential prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for LUAD.

DYRK2 promotes chemosensitivity via p53-mediated apoptosis after DNA damage in colorectal cancer

Dual-specificity tyrosine-regulated kinase 2 (DYRK2) is a protein kinase that phosphorylates p53-Ser46 and induces apoptosis in response to DNA damage. However, the relationship between DYRK2 expression and chemosensitivity after DNA damage in colorectal cancer has not been well investigated. The aim of the present study was to examine whether DYRK2 could be a novel marker for predicting chemosensitivity after 5-fluorouracil- and oxaliplatin-induced DNA damage in colorectal cancer. Here we showed that DYRK2 knockout decreased the chemosensitivity to 5-fluorouracil and oxaliplatin in p53 wild-type colorectal cancer cells, whereas the chemosensitivity remained unchanged in p53-deficient/mutated colorectal cancer cells. In addition, no significant differences in chemosensitivity to 5-fluorouracil and oxaliplatin between scramble and siDYRK2 p53(-/-) colorectal cancer cells were observed. Conversely, the combination of adenovirus-mediated overexpression of DYRK2 with 5-fluorouracil or oxaliplatin enhanced apoptosis and chemosensitivity through p53-Ser46 phosphorylation in p53 wild-type colorectal cancer cells. Furthermore, DYRK2 knockout decreased chemosensitivity to 5-fluorouracil and oxaliplatin in p53 wild-type xenograft mouse models. Taken together, these findings demonstrated that DYRK2 expression was associated with chemosensitivity to 5-fluorouracil and oxaliplatin in p53 wild-type colorectal cancer, suggesting the importance of evaluating the p53 status and DYRK2 expression as a novel marker in therapeutic strategies for colorectal cancer.

Enforced dual-specificity tyrosine-regulated kinase 2 expression by adenovirus-mediated gene transfer inhibits tumor growth and metastasis of colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common gastrointestinal tumors with good outcomes; however, with distant metastasis, the outcomes are poor. Novel treatment methods are urgently needed. Our in vitro studies indicate that dual-specificity tyrosine-regulated kinase 2 (DYRK2) functions as a tumor suppressor in colorectal cancer by regulating cell survival, proliferation, and apoptosis induction. In addition, DYRK2 expression is decreased in tumor tissues compared to nontumor tissues in colorectal cancer, indicating a correlation with clinical prognosis. In this context, we devised a novel therapeutic strategy to overexpress DYRK2 in tumors by adenovirus-mediated gene transfer. The present study shows that overexpression of DYRK2 in colon cancer cell lines by adenovirus inhibits cell proliferation and induces apoptosis in vitro. Furthermore, in mouse subcutaneous xenograft and liver metastasis models, enforced expression of DYRK2 by direct or intravenous injection of adenovirus to the tumor significantly inhibits tumor growth. Taken together, these findings show that adenovirus-based overexpression of DYRK2 could be a novel gene therapy for liver metastasis of colorectal cancer.

Systemically Administered Sindbis Virus in Combination with Immune Checkpoint Blockade Induces Curative Anti-tumor Immunity

Oncolytic viruses represent a promising form of cancer immunotherapy. We investigated the potential of Sindbis virus (SV) for the treatment of solid tumors expressing the human cancer testis antigen NYESO-1. NYESO-1 is an immunogenic antigen frequently expressed in numerous cancers, such as ovarian cancer. We show that SV expressing the tumor-associated antigen NYESO-1 (SV-NYESO1) acts as an immunostimulatory agent, inducing systemic and rapid lymphocyte activation, leading to a pro-inflammatory environment. SV-NYESO1 treatment combined with anti-programmed death 1 (anti-PD-1) markedly augmented the anti-tumor immunity in mice over the course of treatment, resulting in an avid systemic and intratumoral immune response. This response involved reduced presence of granulocytic myeloid-derived suppressor cells in tumors and an increase in the activation of splenic and tumor-infiltrating T cells. Combined therapy also induced enhanced cytotoxic activity of T cells against NYESO-1-expressing tumors. These results were in line with an observed inverse correlation between T cell activation and tumor growth. Finally, we show that combined therapy resulted in complete clearance of NYESO-1-expressing tumors in vivo and led to long-term protection against recurrences. These findings provide a rationale for clinical studies of SV-NYESO1 combined with immune checkpoint blockade anti-PD-1 to be used in the treatment of NYESO-1-expressing tumors.