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Staquicini DI, Tang FHF, Markosian C, Yao VJ, Staquicini FI, Dodero-Rojas E, Contessoto VG, Davis D, O'Brien P, Habib N, Smith TL, Bruiners N, Sidman RL, Gennaro ML, Lattime EC, Libutti SK, Whitford PC, Burley SK, Onuchic JN, Arap W, Pasqualini R. Design and proof of concept for targeted phage-based COVID-19 vaccination strategies with a streamlined cold-free supply chain. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:e2105739118. [PMID: 34234013 PMCID: PMC8325333 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2105739118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Development of effective vaccines against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global imperative. Rapid immunization of the entire human population against a widespread, continually evolving, and highly pathogenic virus is an unprecedented challenge, and different vaccine approaches are being pursued. Engineered filamentous bacteriophage (phage) particles have unique potential in vaccine development due to their inherent immunogenicity, genetic plasticity, stability, cost-effectiveness for large-scale production, and proven safety profile in humans. Herein we report the development and initial evaluation of two targeted phage-based vaccination approaches against SARS-CoV-2: dual ligand peptide-targeted phage and adeno-associated virus/phage (AAVP) particles. For peptide-targeted phage, we performed structure-guided antigen design to select six solvent-exposed epitopes of the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein. One of these epitopes displayed on the major capsid protein pVIII of phage induced a specific and sustained humoral response when injected in mice. These phage were further engineered to simultaneously display the peptide CAKSMGDIVC on the minor capsid protein pIII to enable their transport from the lung epithelium into the systemic circulation. Aerosolization of these "dual-display" phage into the lungs of mice generated a systemic and specific antibody response. In the second approach, targeted AAVP particles were engineered to deliver the entire S protein gene under the control of a constitutive CMV promoter. This induced tissue-specific transgene expression, stimulating a systemic S protein-specific antibody response in mice. With these proof-of-concept preclinical experiments, we show that both targeted phage- and AAVP-based particles serve as robust yet versatile platforms that can promptly yield COVID-19 vaccine prototypes for translational development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela I Staquicini
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Newark, NJ 07101
- Division of Cancer Biology, Department of Radiation Oncology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103
| | - Fenny H F Tang
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Newark, NJ 07101
- Division of Cancer Biology, Department of Radiation Oncology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103
| | - Christopher Markosian
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Newark, NJ 07101
- Division of Cancer Biology, Department of Radiation Oncology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103
| | - Virginia J Yao
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Newark, NJ 07101
- Division of Cancer Biology, Department of Radiation Oncology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103
| | - Fernanda I Staquicini
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Newark, NJ 07101
- Division of Cancer Biology, Department of Radiation Oncology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103
| | | | - Vinícius G Contessoto
- Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005
- Department of Physics, Institute of Biosciences, Humanities and Exact Sciences, São Paulo State University, São José do Rio Preto, SP 15054, Brazil
| | - Deodate Davis
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Newark, NJ 07101
- Division of Cancer Biology, Department of Radiation Oncology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103
| | - Paul O'Brien
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Newark, NJ 07101
- Division of Cancer Biology, Department of Radiation Oncology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103
| | - Nazia Habib
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Newark, NJ 07101
- Division of Cancer Biology, Department of Radiation Oncology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103
| | - Tracey L Smith
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Newark, NJ 07101
- Division of Cancer Biology, Department of Radiation Oncology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103
| | - Natalie Bruiners
- Public Health Research Institute, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103
| | - Richard L Sidman
- Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115
| | - Maria L Gennaro
- Public Health Research Institute, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103
| | - Edmund C Lattime
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
- Department of Surgery, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
| | - Steven K Libutti
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
- Department of Surgery, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
| | - Paul C Whitford
- Department of Physics and Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115
| | - Stephen K Burley
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
- RCSB Protein Data Bank and Institute for Quantitative Biomedicine, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854
- RCSB Protein Data Bank, San Diego Supercomputer Center and Skaggs School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92067
| | - José N Onuchic
- Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005;
- Department of Biosciences, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005
- Department of Chemistry, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005
| | - Wadih Arap
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Newark, NJ 07101;
- Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103
| | - Renata Pasqualini
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Newark, NJ 07101;
- Division of Cancer Biology, Department of Radiation Oncology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103
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Suwan K, Yata T, Waramit S, Przystal JM, Stoneham CA, Bentayebi K, Asavarut P, Chongchai A, Pothachareon P, Lee KY, Topanurak S, Smith TL, Gelovani JG, Sidman RL, Pasqualini R, Arap W, Hajitou A. Next-generation of targeted AAVP vectors for systemic transgene delivery against cancer. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019; 116:18571-18577. [PMID: 31375630 PMCID: PMC6744886 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1906653116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Bacteriophage (phage) have attractive advantages as delivery systems compared with mammalian viruses, but have been considered poor vectors because they lack evolved strategies to confront and overcome mammalian cell barriers to infective agents. We reasoned that improved efficacy of delivery might be achieved through structural modification of the viral capsid to avoid pre- and postinternalization barriers to mammalian cell transduction. We generated multifunctional hybrid adeno-associated virus/phage (AAVP) particles to enable simultaneous display of targeting ligands on the phage's minor pIII proteins and also degradation-resistance motifs on the very numerous pVIII coat proteins. This genetic strategy of directed evolution bestows a next-generation of AAVP particles that feature resistance to fibrinogen adsorption or neutralizing antibodies and ability to escape endolysosomal degradation. This results in superior gene transfer efficacy in vitro and also in preclinical mouse models of rodent and human solid tumors. Thus, the unique functions of our next-generation AAVP particles enable improved targeted gene delivery to tumor cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Keittisak Suwan
- Phage Therapy Group, Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, W12 0NN London, United Kingdom
| | - Teerapong Yata
- Phage Therapy Group, Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, W12 0NN London, United Kingdom
| | - Sajee Waramit
- Phage Therapy Group, Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, W12 0NN London, United Kingdom
| | - Justyna M Przystal
- Phage Therapy Group, Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, W12 0NN London, United Kingdom
| | - Charlotte A Stoneham
- Phage Therapy Group, Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, W12 0NN London, United Kingdom
| | - Kaoutar Bentayebi
- Phage Therapy Group, Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, W12 0NN London, United Kingdom
| | - Paladd Asavarut
- Phage Therapy Group, Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, W12 0NN London, United Kingdom
| | - Aitthiphon Chongchai
- Thailand Excellence Center for Tissue Engineering and Stem Cells, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, 50200 Chiang Mai, Thailand
| | - Peraphan Pothachareon
- Thailand Excellence Center for Tissue Engineering and Stem Cells, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, 50200 Chiang Mai, Thailand
| | - Koon-Yang Lee
- Department of Aeronautics, Imperial College London, SW7 2AZ London, United Kingdom
| | - Supachai Topanurak
- Department of Molecular Tropical Medicine and Genetics, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, 10400 Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Tracey L Smith
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Newark, NJ 07103
- Division of Cancer Biology, Department of Radiation Oncology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103
| | - Juri G Gelovani
- Karmanos Cancer Institute, School of Medicine, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48201
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48201
| | - Richard L Sidman
- Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115;
| | - Renata Pasqualini
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Newark, NJ 07103;
- Division of Cancer Biology, Department of Radiation Oncology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103
| | - Wadih Arap
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Newark, NJ 07103;
- Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103
| | - Amin Hajitou
- Phage Therapy Group, Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, W12 0NN London, United Kingdom;
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Dobroff AS, D'Angelo S, Eckhardt BL, Ferrara F, Staquicini DI, Cardó-Vila M, Staquicini FI, Nunes DN, Kim K, Driessen WHP, Hajitou A, Lomo LC, Barry M, Krishnamurthy S, Sahin A, Woodward WA, Prossnitz ER, Anderson RL, Dias-Neto E, Brown-Glaberman UA, Royce ME, Ueno NT, Cristofanilli M, Hortobagyi GN, Marchiò S, Gelovani JG, Sidman RL, Arap W, Pasqualini R. Towards a transcriptome-based theranostic platform for unfavorable breast cancer phenotypes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2016; 113:12780-5. [PMID: 27791177 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1615288113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Inflammatory breast carcinoma (IBC) is one of the most lethal forms of human breast cancer, and effective treatment for IBC is an unmet clinical need in contemporary oncology. Tumor-targeted theranostic approaches are emerging in precision medicine, but only a few specific biomarkers are available. Here we report up-regulation of the 78-kDa glucose-regulated protein (GRP78) in two independent discovery and validation sets of specimens derived from IBC patients, suggesting translational promise for clinical applications. We show that a GRP78-binding motif displayed on either bacteriophage or adeno-associated virus/phage (AAVP) particles or loop-grafted onto a human antibody fragment specifically targets orthotopic IBC and other aggressive breast cancer models in vivo. To evaluate the theranostic value, we used GRP78-targeting AAVP particles to deliver the human Herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase type-1 (HSVtk) transgene, obtaining simultaneous in vivo diagnosis through PET imaging and tumor treatment by selective activation of the prodrug ganciclovir at tumor sites. Translation of this AAVP system is expected simultaneously to image, monitor, and treat the IBC phenotype and possibly other aggressive (e.g., invasive and/or metastatic) subtypes of breast cancer, based on the inducible cell-surface expression of the stress-response chaperone GRP78, and possibily other cell-surface receptors in human tumors.
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Ferrara F, Staquicini DI, Driessen WHP, D'Angelo S, Dobroff AS, Barry M, Lomo LC, Staquicini FI, Cardó-Vila M, Soghomonyan S, Alauddin MM, Flores LG 2nd, Arap MA, Lauer RC, Mathew P, Efstathiou E, Aparicio AM, Troncoso P, Navone NM, Logothetis CJ, Marchiò S, Gelovani JG, Sidman RL, Pasqualini R, Arap W. Targeted molecular-genetic imaging and ligand-directed therapy in aggressive variant prostate cancer. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2016; 113:12786-91. [PMID: 27791181 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1615400113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Aggressive variant prostate cancers (AVPC) are a clinically defined group of tumors of heterogeneous morphologies, characterized by poor patient survival and for which limited diagnostic and treatment options are currently available. We show that the cell surface 78-kDa glucose-regulated protein (GRP78), a receptor that binds to phage-display-selected ligands, such as the SNTRVAP motif, is a candidate target in AVPC. We report the presence and accessibility of this receptor in clinical specimens from index patients. We also demonstrate that human AVPC cells displaying GRP78 on their surface could be effectively targeted both in vitro and in vivo by SNTRVAP, which also enabled specific delivery of siRNA species to tumor xenografts in mice. Finally, we evaluated ligand-directed strategies based on SNTRVAP-displaying adeno-associated virus/phage (AAVP) particles in mice bearing MDA-PCa-118b, a patient-derived xenograft (PDX) of castration-resistant prostate cancer bone metastasis that we exploited as a model of AVPC. For theranostic (a merging of the terms therapeutic and diagnostic) studies, GRP78-targeting AAVP particles served to deliver the human Herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase type-1 (HSVtk) gene, which has a dual function as a molecular-genetic sensor/reporter and a cell suicide-inducing transgene. We observed specific and simultaneous PET imaging and treatment of tumors in this preclinical model of AVPC. Our findings demonstrate the feasibility of GPR78-targeting, ligand-directed theranostics for translational applications in AVPC.
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Chira S, Jackson CS, Oprea I, Ozturk F, Pepper MS, Diaconu I, Braicu C, Raduly LZ, Calin GA, Berindan-Neagoe I. Progresses towards safe and efficient gene therapy vectors. Oncotarget 2016; 6:30675-703. [PMID: 26362400 PMCID: PMC4741561 DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.5169] [Citation(s) in RCA: 134] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2015] [Accepted: 08/22/2015] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
The emergence of genetic engineering at the beginning of the 1970′s opened the era of biomedical technologies, which aims to improve human health using genetic manipulation techniques in a clinical context. Gene therapy represents an innovating and appealing strategy for treatment of human diseases, which utilizes vehicles or vectors for delivering therapeutic genes into the patients' body. However, a few past unsuccessful events that negatively marked the beginning of gene therapy resulted in the need for further studies regarding the design and biology of gene therapy vectors, so that this innovating treatment approach can successfully move from bench to bedside. In this paper, we review the major gene delivery vectors and recent improvements made in their design meant to overcome the issues that commonly arise with the use of gene therapy vectors. At the end of the manuscript, we summarized the main advantages and disadvantages of common gene therapy vectors and we discuss possible future directions for potential therapeutic vectors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sergiu Chira
- Research Center for Functional Genomics, Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Iuliu Haţieganu", Cluj Napoca, Romania
| | - Carlo S Jackson
- Department of Immunology and Institute for Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Iulian Oprea
- Department of Oncology and Pathology, Cancer Center Karolinska, Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Ferhat Ozturk
- Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Canik Başari University, Samsun, Turkey
| | - Michael S Pepper
- Department of Immunology and Institute for Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
| | | | - Cornelia Braicu
- Research Center for Functional Genomics, Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Iuliu Haţieganu", Cluj Napoca, Romania
| | - Lajos-Zsolt Raduly
- Research Center for Functional Genomics, Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Iuliu Haţieganu", Cluj Napoca, Romania.,Department of Physiopathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Science and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj Napoca, Romania
| | - George A Calin
- Department of Experimental Therapeutics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.,Center for RNA Interference and Non-Coding RNAs, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Ioana Berindan-Neagoe
- Research Center for Functional Genomics, Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Iuliu Haţieganu", Cluj Napoca, Romania.,Department of Immunology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Iuliu Haţieganu", Cluj Napoca, Romania.,Department of Functional Genomics and Experimental Pathology, Oncological Institute "Prof. Dr. Ion Chiricuţă", Cluj Napoca, Romania.,Department of Experimental Therapeutics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
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Smith TL, Yuan Z, Cardó-Vila M, Sanchez Claros C, Adem A, Cui MH, Branch CA, Gelovani JG, Libutti SK, Sidman RL, Pasqualini R, Arap W. AAVP displaying octreotide for ligand-directed therapeutic transgene delivery in neuroendocrine tumors of the pancreas. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2016; 113:2466-71. [PMID: 26884209 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1525709113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Patients with inoperable or unresectable pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) have limited treatment options. These rare human tumors often express somatostatin receptors (SSTRs) and thus are clinically responsive to certain relatively stable somatostatin analogs, such as octreotide. Unfortunately, however, this tumor response is generally short-lived. Here we designed a hybrid adeno-associated virus and phage (AAVP) vector displaying biologically active octreotide on the viral surface for ligand-directed delivery, cell internalization, and transduction of an apoptosis-promoting tumor necrosis factor (TNF) transgene specifically to NETs. These functional attributes of AAVP-TNF particles displaying the octreotide peptide motif (termed Oct-AAVP-TNF) were confirmed in vitro, in SSTR type 2-expressing NET cells, and in vivo using cohorts of pancreatic NET-bearing Men1 tumor-suppressor gene KO mice, a transgenic model of functioning (i.e., insulin-secreting) tumors that genetically and clinically recapitulates the human disease. Finally, preclinical imaging and therapeutic experiments with pancreatic NET-bearing mice demonstrated that Oct-AAVP-TNF lowered tumor metabolism and insulin secretion, reduced tumor size, and improved mouse survival. Taken together, these proof-of-concept results establish Oct-AAVP-TNF as a strong therapeutic candidate for patients with NETs of the pancreas. More broadly, the demonstration that a known, short, biologically active motif can direct tumor targeting and receptor-mediated internalization of AAVP particles may streamline the potential utility of myriad other short peptide motifs and provide a blueprint for therapeutic applications in a variety of cancers and perhaps many nonmalignant diseases as well.
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