Purpose: Replication-selective tumor-specific viruses present a novel approach for treating neoplastic disease. These vectors are designed to induce virus-mediated lysis of tumor cells after selective viral propagation within the tumor. Telomerase activation is considered to be a critical step in carcinogenesis, and its activity is closely correlated with human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) expression. We investigated the antitumor effect of the hTERTspecific replication-competent adenovirus on human cancer cells.Experimental Design: We constructed an adenovirus 5 vector [tumor-or telomerase-specific replication-competent adenovirus (TRAD)], in which the hTERT promoter element drives expression of E1A and E1B genes linked with an internal ribosome entry site, and we examined the selective replication and antitumor effect in human cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.Results: TRAD induced selective E1A and E1B expression in human cancer cells, but not in normal cells such as human fibroblasts. TRAD replicated efficiently and induced marked cell killing in a panel of human cancer cell lines, whereas replication as well as cytotoxicity was highly attenuated in normal human fibroblasts lacking telomerase activity. In nu/nu mice carrying s.c. human lung tumor xenografts, intratumoral injection of TRAD resulted in a significant inhibition of tumor growth. No evidence of TRAD was identified in tissues outside of the tumors, despite the presence of TRAD in the circulation. Moreover, TRAD replication in the distant, noninjected tumors was demonstrated.Conclusions: Our results suggest that the hTERT promoter confers competence for selective replication of TRAD in human cancer cells, an outcome that has important implications for the treatment of human cancers.
Replication-competent oncolytic viruses are being developed for human cancer therapy. We previously reported that an attenuated adenovirus (OBP-301, 'Telomelysin'), in which the hTERT promoter element drives expression of E1A and E1B genes linked with an IRES, could replicate in cancer cells, and causes selective lysis of cancer cells. We further constructed OBP-405 ('Telomelysin-RGD') that contains an RGD motif in the HI loop of the fiber knob. We examined whether OBP-405 could be effective in overcoming the limitations of OBP-301, specifically their inefficient infection into cells lacking the primary receptor, the coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor (CAR). By flow cytometric analysis, H1299 (lung) and SW620 (colorectal) tumor cells showed high levels of CAR expression, whereas LN444 (glioblastoma), LNZ308 (glioblastoma), and H1299-R5 (lung) tumor cells were negative for CAR expression. A quantitative realtime PCR analysis demonstrated that fiber-modified OBP-405 infected more efficiently than OBP-301, although the intracellular replication rate of both viruses was consistent. The comparative antitumor effect of fibermodified OBP-405 and unmodified OBP-301 for human cancer cells was evaluated in vitro by XTT assay as well as in vivo by using athymic mice carrying xenografts. OBP-405 had a profound oncolytic effect on human cancer cell lines compared to OBP-301, in particular on cells with low CAR expression. Intratumoral injection of 10 7 plaque-forming units of OBP-405 into CAR-negative H1299-R5 lung tumor xenografts in nu/nu mice resulted in a significant inhibition of tumor growth and long-term survival in all treated mice. Moreover, selective replication of OBP-405 in the distant, uninjected H1299-R5 tumors was demonstrated. Our results suggest that fiber-modified replication-competent adenovirus OBP-405 exhibits a broad target range by increasing infection efficiency, an outcome that has important implications for the treatment of human cancers.
Replication-competent oncolytic viruses are being developed for human cancer therapy. We previously reported that an attenuated adenovirus OBP-301 (Telomelysin), in which the human telomerase reverse transcriptase promoter element drives expression of E1A and E1B genes linked with an internal ribosome entry site, could replicate in and causes selective lysis of human cancer cells. Infection efficiency in target cancer cells is the most important factor that predicts the antitumor effects of OBP-301. The objectives of this study are to examine the effects of the histone deacetylase inhibitor FR901228 on the level of coxsackie and adenovirus receptor (CAR) expression and OBP-301-mediated oncolysis in human non-small cell lung cancer cell lines. Flow cytometric analysis revealed up-regulated CAR expression in A549 and H460 cells following treatment with 1 ng/ml of FR901228, which was associated with increased infection efficiency as confirmed by replication-deficient beta-galactosidase-expressing adenovirus vector. In contrast, neither CAR expression nor infection efficiency was affected by FR901228 in H1299 cells. To visualize and quantify viral replication in the presence of FR901228, we used OBP-401 (Telomelysin-GFP) that expresses the green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter gene under the control of the cytomegalovirus promoter in the E3 region. Fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry showed that FR901228 increased GFP expression in A549 and H460 cells following OBP-401 infection in a dose-dependent manner, but this effect did not occur in H1299 cells. In addition, OBP-301 and FR901228 demonstrated a synergistic antitumor effect in A549 cells in vitro, as confirmed by isobologram analysis. Our data indicate that FR901228 preferentially increases adenovirus infectivity via up-regulation of CAR expression, leading to a profound oncolytic effect, which may have a significant impact on the outcome of adenovirus-based oncolytic virotherapy.
Currently available methods for detection of tumors in vivo such as X-ray, computed tomography, and ultrasonography are noninvasive and have been well studied; the images, however, are not specific for tumors. Direct optical imaging of tumor cells in vivo that can clearly distinguish them from surrounding normal tissues may be clinically useful. Here, we describe a new approach to visualizing tumors whose fluorescence can be detected using tumor-specific replication-competent adenovirus (
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