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Vannini A, Parenti F, Barboni C, Forghieri C, Leoni V, Sanapo M, Bressanin D, Zaghini A, Campadelli-Fiume G, Gianni T. Efficacy of Systemically Administered Retargeted Oncolytic Herpes Simplex Viruses-Clearance and Biodistribution in Naïve and HSV-Preimmune Mice. Cancers (Basel) 2023; 15:4042. [PMID: 37627072 PMCID: PMC10452237 DOI: 10.3390/cancers15164042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2023] [Revised: 08/02/2023] [Accepted: 08/03/2023] [Indexed: 08/27/2023] Open
Abstract
We investigated the anticancer efficacy, blood clearance, and tissue biodistribution of systemically administered retargeted oncolytic herpes simplex viruses (ReHVs) in HSV-naïve and HSV-preimmunized (HSV-IMM) mice. Efficacy was tested against lung tumors formed upon intravenous administration of cancer cells, a model of metastatic disease, and against subcutaneous distant tumors. In naïve mice, HER2- and hPSMA-retargeted viruses, both armed with mIL-12, were highly effective, even when administered to mice with well-developed tumors. Efficacy was higher for combination regimens with immune checkpoint inhibitors. A significant amount of infectious virus persisted in the blood for at least 1 h. Viral genomes, or fragments thereof, persisted in the blood and tissues for days. Remarkably, the only sites of viral replication were the lungs of tumor-positive mice and the subcutaneous tumors. No replication was detected in other tissues, strengthening the evidence of the high cancer specificity of ReHVs, a property that renders ReHVs suitable for systemic administration. In HSV-IMM mice, ReHVs administered at late times failed to exert anticancer efficacy, and the circulating virus was rapidly inactivated. Serum stability and in vivo whole blood stability assays highlighted neutralizing antibodies as the main factor in virus inactivation. Efforts to deplete mice of the neutralizing antibodies are ongoing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Vannini
- Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy; (A.V.); (F.P.); (C.F.)
- Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
| | - Federico Parenti
- Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy; (A.V.); (F.P.); (C.F.)
| | - Catia Barboni
- Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy; (C.B.); (A.Z.)
| | - Cristina Forghieri
- Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy; (A.V.); (F.P.); (C.F.)
| | - Valerio Leoni
- Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy; (A.V.); (F.P.); (C.F.)
| | - Mara Sanapo
- Animal Facility Unit, Biogem, 83031 Ariano Irpino, Italy;
| | - Daniela Bressanin
- Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy; (A.V.); (F.P.); (C.F.)
| | - Anna Zaghini
- Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy; (C.B.); (A.Z.)
| | - Gabriella Campadelli-Fiume
- Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy; (A.V.); (F.P.); (C.F.)
| | - Tatiana Gianni
- Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy; (A.V.); (F.P.); (C.F.)
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Vannini A, Parenti F, Forghieri C, Barboni C, Zaghini A, Campadelli-Fiume G, Gianni T. Innovative retargeted oncolytic herpesvirus against nectin4-positive cancers. Front Mol Biosci 2023; 10:1149973. [PMID: 37251078 PMCID: PMC10213976 DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2023.1149973] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2023] [Accepted: 05/02/2023] [Indexed: 05/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Nectin4 is a recently discovered tumor associated antigen expressed in cancers that constitute relevant unmet clinical needs, including the undruggable triple negative breast cancer, pancreatic ductal carcinoma, bladder/urothelial cancer, cervical cancer, lung carcinoma and melanoma. So far, only one nectin4-specific drug-Enfortumab Vedotin-has been approved and the clinical trials that test novel therapeutics are only five. Here we engineered R-421, an innovative retargeted onco-immunotherapeutic herpesvirus highly specific for nectin4 and unable to infect through the natural herpes receptors, nectin1 or herpesvirus entry mediator. In vitro, R-421 infected and killed human nectin4-positive malignant cells and spared normal cells, e.g., human fibroblasts. Importantly from a safety viewpoint, R-421 failed to infect malignant cells that do not harbor nectin4 gene amplification/overexpression, whose expression level was moderate-to-low. In essence, there was a net threshold value below which cells were spared from infection, irrespective of whether they were malignant or normal; the only cells that R-421 targeted were the malignant overexpressing ones. In vivo, R-421 decreased or abolished the growth of murine tumors made transgenic for human nectin4 and conferred sensitivity to immune checkpoint inhibitors in combination therapies. Its efficacy was augmented by the cyclophosphamide immunomodulator and decreased by depletion of CD8-positive lymphocytes, arguing that it was in part T cell-mediated. R-421 elicited in-situ vaccination that protected from distant challenge tumors. This study provides proof-of-principle specificity and efficacy data justifying nectin4-retargeted onco-immunotherapeutic herpesvirus as an innovative approach against a number of difficult-to-drug clinical indications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Vannini
- Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences (DIMEC), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
- Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Federico Parenti
- Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences (DIMEC), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Cristina Forghieri
- Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences (DIMEC), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Catia Barboni
- Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Anna Zaghini
- Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | | | - Tatiana Gianni
- Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences (DIMEC), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
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Gentile C, Finizio A, Froechlich G, D’Alise AM, Cotugno G, Amiranda S, Nicosia A, Scarselli E, Zambrano N, Sasso E. Generation of a Retargeted Oncolytic Herpes Virus Encoding Adenosine Deaminase for Tumor Adenosine Clearance. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:ijms222413521. [PMID: 34948316 PMCID: PMC8705735 DOI: 10.3390/ijms222413521] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2021] [Revised: 12/03/2021] [Accepted: 12/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Oncolytic viruses are immunotherapeutic agents that can be engineered to encode payloads of interest within the tumor microenvironment to enhance therapeutic efficacy. Their therapeutic potential could be limited by many avenues for immune evasion exerted by the tumor. One such is mediated by adenosine, which induces pleiotropic immunosuppression by inhibiting antitumor immune populations as well as activating tolerogenic stimuli. Adenosine is produced starting from the highly immunostimulatory ATP, which is progressively hydrolyzed to ADP and adenosine by CD39 and CD73. Cancer cells express high levels of CD39 and CD73 ectoenzymes, thus converting immunostimulatory purinergic signal of ATP into an immunosuppressive signal. For this reason, CD39, CD73 and adenosine receptors are currently investigated in clinical trials as targets for metabolic cancer immunotherapy. This is of particular relevance in the context of oncovirotherapy, as immunogenic cell death induced by oncolytic viruses causes the secretion of a high amount of ATP which is available to be quickly converted into adenosine. Methods: Here, we took advantage of adenosine deaminase enzyme that naturally converts adenosine into the corresponding inosine derivative, devoid of immunoregulatory function. We encoded ADA into an oncolytic targeted herpes virus redirected to human HER2. An engineered ADA with an ectopic signal peptide was also generated to improve enzyme secretion (ADA-SP). Results: Insertion of the expression cassette was not detrimental for viral yield and cancer cell cytotoxicity. The THV_ADA and THV_ADA-SP successfully mediated the secretion of functional ADA enzyme. In in vitro model of human monocytes THP1, this ability of THV_ADA and THV_ADA-SP resulted in the retrieval of eADO-exposed monocytes replication rate, suggesting the proficiency of the viruses in rescuing the immune function. Conclusions: Encoding ADA into oncolytic viruses revealed promising properties for preclinical exploitation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara Gentile
- CEINGE Biotecnologie Avanzate S.C.aR.L., Via G. Salvatore 486, 80145 Naples, Italy; (C.G.); (A.F.); (G.F.); (S.A.); (A.N.); (N.Z.)
- Dipartimento di Medicina Molecolare e Biotecnologie Mediche, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Via Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy
| | - Arianna Finizio
- CEINGE Biotecnologie Avanzate S.C.aR.L., Via G. Salvatore 486, 80145 Naples, Italy; (C.G.); (A.F.); (G.F.); (S.A.); (A.N.); (N.Z.)
| | - Guendalina Froechlich
- CEINGE Biotecnologie Avanzate S.C.aR.L., Via G. Salvatore 486, 80145 Naples, Italy; (C.G.); (A.F.); (G.F.); (S.A.); (A.N.); (N.Z.)
| | - Anna Morena D’Alise
- Nouscom S.R.L., Via di Castel Romano 100, 00128 Rome, Italy; (A.M.D.); (G.C.); (E.S.)
| | - Gabriella Cotugno
- Nouscom S.R.L., Via di Castel Romano 100, 00128 Rome, Italy; (A.M.D.); (G.C.); (E.S.)
| | - Sara Amiranda
- CEINGE Biotecnologie Avanzate S.C.aR.L., Via G. Salvatore 486, 80145 Naples, Italy; (C.G.); (A.F.); (G.F.); (S.A.); (A.N.); (N.Z.)
- Dipartimento di Medicina Molecolare e Biotecnologie Mediche, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Via Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy
| | - Alfredo Nicosia
- CEINGE Biotecnologie Avanzate S.C.aR.L., Via G. Salvatore 486, 80145 Naples, Italy; (C.G.); (A.F.); (G.F.); (S.A.); (A.N.); (N.Z.)
- Dipartimento di Medicina Molecolare e Biotecnologie Mediche, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Via Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy
| | - Elisa Scarselli
- Nouscom S.R.L., Via di Castel Romano 100, 00128 Rome, Italy; (A.M.D.); (G.C.); (E.S.)
| | - Nicola Zambrano
- CEINGE Biotecnologie Avanzate S.C.aR.L., Via G. Salvatore 486, 80145 Naples, Italy; (C.G.); (A.F.); (G.F.); (S.A.); (A.N.); (N.Z.)
- Dipartimento di Medicina Molecolare e Biotecnologie Mediche, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Via Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy
| | - Emanuele Sasso
- CEINGE Biotecnologie Avanzate S.C.aR.L., Via G. Salvatore 486, 80145 Naples, Italy; (C.G.); (A.F.); (G.F.); (S.A.); (A.N.); (N.Z.)
- Dipartimento di Medicina Molecolare e Biotecnologie Mediche, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Via Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy
- Correspondence:
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Vannini A, Parenti F, Bressanin D, Barboni C, Zaghini A, Campadelli-Fiume G, Gianni T. Towards a Precision Medicine Approach and In Situ Vaccination against Prostate Cancer by PSMA-Retargeted oHSV. Viruses 2021; 13:v13102085. [PMID: 34696515 PMCID: PMC8541339 DOI: 10.3390/v13102085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2021] [Revised: 10/08/2021] [Accepted: 10/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) is a specific high frequency cell surface marker of prostate cancers. Theranostic approaches targeting PSMA show no major adverse effects and rule out off-tumor toxicity. A PSMA-retargeted oHSV (R-405) was generated which both infected and was cytotoxic exclusively for PSMA-positive cells, including human prostate cancer LNCaP and 22Rv1 cells, and spared PSMA-negative cells. R-405 in vivo efficacy against LLC1-PSMA and Renca-PSMA tumors consisted of inhibiting primary tumor growth, establishing long-term T immune response, immune heating of the microenvironment, de-repression of the anti-tumor immune phenotype, and sensitization to checkpoint blockade. The in situ vaccination protected from distant challenge tumors, both PSMA-positive and PSMA-negative, implying that it was addressed also to LLC1 tumor antigens. PSMA-retargeted oHSVs are a precision medicine tool worth being additionally investigated in the immunotherapeutic and in situ vaccination landscape against prostate cancers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Vannini
- Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy; (A.V.); (F.P.); (D.B.)
| | - Federico Parenti
- Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy; (A.V.); (F.P.); (D.B.)
| | - Daniela Bressanin
- Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy; (A.V.); (F.P.); (D.B.)
| | - Catia Barboni
- Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy; (C.B.); (A.Z.)
| | - Anna Zaghini
- Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy; (C.B.); (A.Z.)
| | - Gabriella Campadelli-Fiume
- Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy; (A.V.); (F.P.); (D.B.)
- Correspondence: (G.C.-F.); (T.G.); Tel.: +39-0512094733 (G.C.-F.); +39-0512094750 (T.G.)
| | - Tatiana Gianni
- Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy; (A.V.); (F.P.); (D.B.)
- Correspondence: (G.C.-F.); (T.G.); Tel.: +39-0512094733 (G.C.-F.); +39-0512094750 (T.G.)
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Genotype of Immunologically Hot or Cold Tumors Determines the Antitumor Immune Response and Efficacy by Fully Virulent Retargeted oHSV. Viruses 2021; 13:v13091747. [PMID: 34578328 PMCID: PMC8473155 DOI: 10.3390/v13091747] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2021] [Revised: 08/19/2021] [Accepted: 08/27/2021] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Abstract
We report on the efficacy of the non-attenuated HER2-retargeted oHSV named R-337 against the immunologically hot CT26-HER2 tumor, and an insight into the basis of the immune protection. Preliminarily, we conducted an RNA immune profiling and immune cell content characterization of CT26-HER2 tumor in comparison to the immunologically cold LLC1-HER2 tumor. CT26-HER2 tumor was implanted into HER2-transgenic BALB/c mice. Hallmarks of R-337 effects were the protection from primary tumor, long-term adaptive vaccination directed to both HER2 and CT26-wt cell neoantigens. The latter effect differentiated R-337 from OncoVEXGM-CSF. As to the basis of the immune protection, R-337 orchestrated several changes to the tumor immune profile, which cumulatively reversed the immunosuppression typical of this tumor (graphical abstract). Thus, Ido1 (inhibitor of T cell anticancer immunity) levels and T regulatory cell infiltration were decreased; Cd40 and Cd27 co-immunostimulatory markers were increased; the IFNγ cascade was activated. Of note was the dampening of IFN-I response, which we attribute to the fact that R-337 is fully equipped with genes that contrast the host innate response. The IFN-I shut-down likely favored viral replication and the expression of the mIL-12 payload, which, in turn, boosted the antitumor response. The results call for a characterization of tumor immune markers to employ oncolytic herpesviruses more precisely.
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Marchini A, Ilkow CS, Melcher A. Oncolytic Virus Immunotherapy. Cancers (Basel) 2021; 13:cancers13153672. [PMID: 34359574 PMCID: PMC8345066 DOI: 10.3390/cancers13153672] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2021] [Accepted: 07/07/2021] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Antonio Marchini
- Laboratory of Oncolytic Virus Immuno-Therapeutics, Luxembourg Institute of Health, 84 Val Fleuri, L-1526 Luxembourg, Luxembourg
- German Cancer Research Centre, Laboratory of Oncolytic Virus Immuno-Therapeutics, Im Neuenheimer Feld 242, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
- Correspondence: or ; Tel.: +352-26-970-856 or +49-6221-424969
| | - Carolina S. Ilkow
- Cancer Therapeutics Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON K1H 8L6, Canada;
- Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1H 8M5, Canada
| | - Alan Melcher
- Institute of Cancer Research, London SW3 6JB, UK;
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