The role of the immune response to oncolytic Herpes Simplex viral (oHSV) therapy for glioblastoma is controversial. Within hours of oHSV infection of human or syngeneic glioblastoma in mice, activated natural killer (NK) cells are recruited to the site of infection. This response significantly diminished the efficacy of glioblastoma virotherapy. oHSV-activated NK cells coordinated macrophage and microglia activation within tumors. In vitro, human NK cells preferentially lysed oHSV-infected human glioblastoma cell lines. This enhanced killing depended on NK cell natural cytotoxicity receptors (NCR) NKp30 and NKp46, whose ligands were up-regulated in oHSV-infected glioblastoma cells. HSV titers and oHSV efficacy were increased in Ncr1−/− mice and in a Ncr1−/− NK cell adoptive transfer model of glioma, respectively. These in vitro and in vivo (mouse) results demonstrate that glioblastoma virotherapy is partly limited by an antiviral NK cell response involving specific NCRs, uncovering novel potential targets to enhance cancer virotherapy.

MiR-128 is an important suppressor of PRC activity, and its absence is an early event in gliomagenesis.

Tumor virotherapy has been and continues to be used in clinical trials. One barrier to effective viral oncolysis, consisting of the interferon (IFN) response induced by viral infection, is inhibited by valproic acid (VPA) and other histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi). Innate immune cell recruitment and activation have been shown to be deleterious to the efficacy of oncolytic herpes simplex virus (oHSV) infection, and in this report we demonstrate that VPA limits this deleterious response. VPA, administered prior to oHSV inoculation in an orthotopic glioblastoma mouse model, resulted in a decline in NK and macrophage recruitment into tumor-bearing brains at 6 and 24 h post-oHSV infection. Interestingly, there was a robust rebound of recruitment of these cells at 72 h post-oHSV infection. The observed initial decline in immune cell recruitment was accompanied by a reduction in their activation status. VPA was also found to have a profound immunosuppressive effect on human NK cells in vitro. NK cytotoxicity was abrogated following exposure to VPA, consistent with downmodulation of cytotoxic gene expression of granzyme B and perforin at the mRNA and protein levels. In addition, suppression of gamma IFN (IFN-␥) production by VPA was associated with decreased STAT5 phosphorylation and dampened T-BET expression. Despite VPA-mediated immune suppression, mice were not at significantly increased risk for HSV encephalitis. These findings indicate that one of the avenues by which VPA enhances oHSV efficacy is through initial suppression of immune cell recruitment and inhibition of inflammatory cell pathways within NK cells. Despite intense investigations to improve the standard of therapy for glioblastoma (GBM), current regimens result in approximately 15 months of median survival following initial diagnosis, emphasizing the need for new therapies. Oncolytic viruses (OV) are promising biological agents, intensely investigated for nearly 2 decades. These naturally occurring and biologically engineered viruses, which are designed to replicate in a relatively selective manner within tumors and culminate in the destruction of the host's cancer cells (1, 10), have demonstrated effectiveness in preclinical models. Five different clinical trials have tested oncolytic herpes simplex virus (oHSV) (22,35,36,47,50), and a maximum tolerated dose was not achieved and toxicity was not demonstrated. Additionally, oncolytic adenovirus (11), Newcastle disease virus (16), and reovirus (14) have been shown to be safe in dose escalation trials in humans with malignant glioma; moreover, there are ongoing clinical trials with measles virus (24), retrovirus (45), parvovirus H-1, poliovirus, and Seneca Valley virus (see http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2 /results?termϭglioblastomaϩANDϩvirus). However, therapeutic efficacy has been elusive to demonstrate. It is evident that efficacy should depend on the ability of the initially injected oHSV to replicate and distribute within the GBM mass. Identification of both barriers in the host that could li...

The E2f3 locus encodes two Rb-binding gene products, E2F3a and E2F3b, which are differentially regulated during the cell cycle and are thought to be critical for cell cycle progression. We targeted the individual inactivation of E2f3a or E2f3b in mice and examined their contributions to cell proliferation and development. Chromatin immunoprecipitation and gene expression experiments using mouse embryo fibroblasts deficient in each isoform showed that E2F3a and E2F3b contribute to G 1 /S-specific gene expression and cell proliferation. Expression of E2f3a or E2f3b was sufficient to support E2F target gene expression and cell proliferation in the absence of other E2F activators, E2f1 and E2f2, suggesting that these isoforms have redundant functions. Consistent with this notion, E2f3a ؊/؊ and E2f3b ؊/؊ embryos developed normally, whereas embryos lacking both isoforms (E2f3) died in utero. We also find that E2f3a and E2f3b have redundant and nonredundant roles in the context of Rb mutation. Analysis of double-knockout embryos suggests that the ectopic proliferation and apoptosis in Rb ؊/؊ embryos is mainly mediated by E2f3a in the placenta and nervous system and by both E2f3a and E2f3b in lens fiber cells. Together, we conclude that the contributions of E2F3a and E2F3b in cell proliferation and development are context dependent.

To study the controversial role of cytomegalovirus (CMV) in glioblastoma, we assessed the effects of murine CMV (MCMV) perinatal infection in a GFAP-cre; Nf1loxP/+; Trp53−/+ genetic mouse model of glioma (Mut3 mice). Early on after infection, MCMV antigen was predominantly localized in CD45+ lymphocytes in the brain with active viral replication and local areas of inflammation, but, by 7 weeks, there was a generalized loss of MCMV in brain, confirmed by bioluminescent imaging. MCMV-infected Mut3 mice exhibited a shorter survival time from their gliomas than control Mut3 mice perinatally infected with mock or with a different neurotropic virus. Animal survival was also significantly shortened when orthotopic gliomas were implanted in mice perinatally infected with MCMV versus controls. MCMV infection increased phosphorylated STAT3 (p-STAT3) levels in neural stem cells (NSC) harvested from Mut3 mice subventricular zone, and, in vivo, there was increased p-STAT3 in NSCs in MCMV-infected compared with control mice. Of relevance, human CMV (HCMV) also increased p-STAT3 and proliferation of patient-derived glioblastoma neurospheres, whereas a STAT3 inhibitor reversed this effect in vitro and in vivo. These findings thus associate CMV infection to a STAT3-dependent modulatory role in glioma formation/progression in the context of tumor suppressor mutations in mice and possibly in humans.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) has been detected in several human cancers but it has not proven to be oncogenic. However, recent studies have suggested mechanisms through which CMV may modulate the tumor environment, encouraging its study as a positive modifier of tumorigenesis. In this study, we investigated the effects of CMV infection in TrP53 heterozygous mice. Animals were infected with murine CMV (MCMV) after birth at 2 days (P2) or 4 weeks of age and then monitored for tumor formation. Mice injected at two days of age developed tumors at a high frequency (43%) by 9 months of age. In contrast, only 3% of mock-infected or mice infected at 4 weeks developed tumors. The majority of tumors from P2 MCMV-infected mice were pleomorphic rhabdomyosarcomas (RMS) harboring MCMV DNA, RNA, and protein. An examination of clinical cases revealed that human RMS (embryonal, alveolar, and pleomorphic) harbored human CMV IE1 and pp65 protein as well as viral RNA. Taken together, our findings offer support for the hypothesis that CMV contributes to the development of pleomorphic RMS in the context of Trp53 mutation, a situation which occurs with high frequency in human RMS.

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