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A Single Dose of a Hybrid hAdV5-Based Anti-COVID-19 Vaccine Induces a Long-Lasting Immune Response and Broad Coverage against VOC. Vaccines (Basel) 2021; 9:vaccines9101106. [PMID: 34696219 PMCID: PMC8537385 DOI: 10.3390/vaccines9101106] [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: 08/20/2021] [Revised: 09/22/2021] [Accepted: 09/24/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Most approved vaccines against COVID-19 have to be administered in a prime/boost regimen. We engineered a novel vaccine based on a chimeric human adenovirus 5 (hAdV5) vector. The vaccine (named CoroVaxG.3) is based on three pillars: (i) high expression of Spike to enhance its immunodominance by using a potent promoter and an mRNA stabilizer; (ii) enhanced infection of muscle and dendritic cells by replacing the fiber knob domain of hAdV5 by hAdV3; (iii) use of Spike stabilized in a prefusion conformation. The transduction with CoroVaxG.3-expressing Spike (D614G) dramatically enhanced the Spike expression in human muscle cells, monocytes and dendritic cells compared to CoroVaxG.5 that expressed the native fiber knob domain. A single dose of CoroVaxG.3 induced a potent humoral immunity with a balanced Th1/Th2 ratio and potent T-cell immunity, both lasting for at least 5 months. Sera from CoroVaxG.3-vaccinated mice was able to neutralize pseudoviruses expressing B.1 (wild type D614G), B.1.117 (alpha), P.1 (gamma) and B.1.617.2 (delta) Spikes, as well as an authentic P.1 SARS-CoV-2 isolate. Neutralizing antibodies did not wane even after 5 months, making this kind of vaccine a likely candidate to enter clinical trials.
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Cervera-Carrascon V, Quixabeira DCA, Santos JM, Havunen R, Milenova I, Verhoeff J, Heiniö C, Zafar S, Garcia-Vallejo JJ, van Beusechem VW, de Gruijl TD, Kalervo A, Sorsa S, Kanerva A, Hemminki A. Adenovirus Armed With TNFa and IL2 Added to aPD-1 Regimen Mediates Antitumor Efficacy in Tumors Refractory to aPD-1. Front Immunol 2021; 12:706517. [PMID: 34367166 PMCID: PMC8343222 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.706517] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2021] [Accepted: 07/05/2021] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Immune checkpoint inhibitors such as anti-PD-1 have revolutionized the field of oncology over the past decade. Nevertheless, the majority of patients do not benefit from them. Virotherapy is a flexible tool that can be used to stimulate and/or recruit different immune populations. T-cell enabling virotherapy could enhance the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors, even in tumors resistant to these inhibitors. The T-cell potentiating virotherapy used here consisted of adenoviruses engineered to express tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-2 in the tumor microenvironment. To study virus efficacy in checkpoint-inhibitor resistant tumors, we developed an anti-PD-1 resistant melanoma model in vivo. In resistant tumors, adding virotherapy to an anti-PD-1 regimen resulted in increased survival (p=0.0009), when compared to anti-PD-1 monotherapy. Some of the animals receiving virotherapy displayed complete responses, which did not occur in the immune checkpoint-inhibitor monotherapy group. When adenoviruses were delivered into resistant tumors, there were signs of increased CD8 T-cell infiltration and activation, which - together with a reduced presence of M2 macrophages and myeloid-derived suppressor cells - could explain those results. T-cell enabling virotherapy appeared as a valuable tool to counter resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors. The clinical translation of this approach could increase the number of cancer patients benefiting from immunotherapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victor Cervera-Carrascon
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.,TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Dafne C A Quixabeira
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Joao M Santos
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.,TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Riikka Havunen
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.,TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Ioanna Milenova
- Department of Medical Oncology, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Cancer Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam Infection & Immunity Institute, Amsterdam, Netherlands.,Orca Therapeutics, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Jan Verhoeff
- Department of Molecular Cell Biology & Immunology, Amsterdam Infection & Immunity Institute and Cancer Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Camilla Heiniö
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Sadia Zafar
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Juan J Garcia-Vallejo
- Department of Molecular Cell Biology & Immunology, Amsterdam Infection & Immunity Institute and Cancer Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Victor W van Beusechem
- Department of Medical Oncology, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Cancer Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam Infection & Immunity Institute, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Tanja D de Gruijl
- Department of Medical Oncology, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Cancer Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam Infection & Immunity Institute, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | | | - Suvi Sorsa
- TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Anna Kanerva
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.,Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Akseli Hemminki
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.,TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd, Helsinki, Finland.,Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
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Heiniö C, Havunen R, Santos J, de Lint K, Cervera-Carrascon V, Kanerva A, Hemminki A. TNFa and IL2 Encoding Oncolytic Adenovirus Activates Pathogen and Danger-Associated Immunological Signaling. Cells 2020; 9:cells9040798. [PMID: 32225009 PMCID: PMC7225950 DOI: 10.3390/cells9040798] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2020] [Revised: 03/23/2020] [Accepted: 03/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
In order to break tumor resistance towards traditional treatments, we investigate the response of tumor and immune cells to a novel, cytokine-armed oncolytic adenovirus: Ad5/3-d24-E2F-hTNFa-IRES-hIL2 (also known as TILT-123 and OAd.TNFa-IL2). There are several pattern recognition receptors (PRR) that might mediate adenovirus-infection recognition. However, the role and specific effects of each PRR on the tumor microenvironment and treatment outcome remain unclear. Hence, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of OAd.TNFa-IL2 infection on PRR-mediated danger- and pathogen-associated molecular pattern (DAMP and PAMP, respectively) signaling. In addition, we wanted to see which PRRs mediate an antitumor response and are therefore relevant for optimizing this virotherapy. We determined that OAd.TNFa-IL2 induced DAMP and PAMP release and consequent tumor microenvironment modulation. We show that the AIM2 inflammasome is activated during OAd.TNFa-IL2 virotherapy, thus creating an immunostimulatory antitumor microenvironment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camilla Heiniö
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Faculty of Medicine, TRIMM, University of Helsinki, Haartmaninkatu 3, 00290 Helsinki, Finland; (C.H.); (J.S.); (V.C.-C.); (A.K.)
| | - Riikka Havunen
- TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd., Haartmaninkatu 3, 00290 Helsinki, Finland;
| | - Joao Santos
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Faculty of Medicine, TRIMM, University of Helsinki, Haartmaninkatu 3, 00290 Helsinki, Finland; (C.H.); (J.S.); (V.C.-C.); (A.K.)
- TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd., Haartmaninkatu 3, 00290 Helsinki, Finland;
| | - Klaas de Lint
- Cancer Center Amsterdam, Department of Clinical Genetics, Section Oncogenetics, Amsterdam UMC, De Boelelaan 1117, 1118, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
| | - Victor Cervera-Carrascon
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Faculty of Medicine, TRIMM, University of Helsinki, Haartmaninkatu 3, 00290 Helsinki, Finland; (C.H.); (J.S.); (V.C.-C.); (A.K.)
- TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd., Haartmaninkatu 3, 00290 Helsinki, Finland;
| | - Anna Kanerva
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Faculty of Medicine, TRIMM, University of Helsinki, Haartmaninkatu 3, 00290 Helsinki, Finland; (C.H.); (J.S.); (V.C.-C.); (A.K.)
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Helsinki University Hospital, Haartmaninkatu 2, 00290 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Akseli Hemminki
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Faculty of Medicine, TRIMM, University of Helsinki, Haartmaninkatu 3, 00290 Helsinki, Finland; (C.H.); (J.S.); (V.C.-C.); (A.K.)
- TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd., Haartmaninkatu 3, 00290 Helsinki, Finland;
- Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Paciuksenkatu 3, 00290 Helsinki, Finland
- Correspondence:
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