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Bommareddy PK, Wakimoto H, Martuza RL, Kaufman HL, Rabkin SD, Saha D. Oncolytic herpes simplex virus expressing IL-2 controls glioblastoma growth and improves survival. J Immunother Cancer 2024; 12:e008880. [PMID: 38599661 PMCID: PMC11015300 DOI: 10.1136/jitc-2024-008880] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/01/2024] [Indexed: 04/12/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Glioblastoma (GBM), a highly immunosuppressive and often fatal primary brain tumor, lacks effective treatment options. GBMs contain a subpopulation of GBM stem-like cells (GSCs) that play a central role in tumor initiation, progression, and treatment resistance. Oncolytic viruses, especially oncolytic herpes simplex virus (oHSV), replicate selectively in cancer cells and trigger antitumor immunity-a phenomenon termed the "in situ vaccine" effect. Although talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC), an oHSV armed with granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), is Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved for melanoma, its use in patients with GBM has not been reported. Interleukin 2 (IL-2) is another established immunotherapy that stimulates T cell growth and orchestrates antitumor responses. IL-2 is FDA-approved for melanoma and renal cell carcinoma but has not been widely evaluated in GBM, and IL-2 treatment is limited by its short half-life, minimal tumor accumulation, and significant systemic toxicity. We hypothesize that local intratumoral expression of IL-2 by an oHSV would avoid the systemic IL-2-related therapeutic drawbacks while simultaneously producing beneficial antitumor immunity. METHODS We developed G47Δ-mIL2 (an oHSV expressing IL-2) using the flip-flop HSV BAC system to deliver IL-2 locally within the tumor microenvironment (TME). We then tested its efficacy in orthotopic mouse GBM models (005 GSC, CT-2A, and GL261) and evaluated immune profiles in the treated tumors and spleens by flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS G47Δ-mIL2 significantly prolonged median survival without any observable systemic IL-2-related toxicity in the 005 and CT-2A models but not in the GL261 model due to the non-permissive nature of GL261 cells to HSV infection. The therapeutic activity of G47Δ-mIL2 in the 005 GBM model was associated with increased intratumoral infiltration of CD8+ T cells, critically dependent on the release of IL-2 within the TME, and CD4+ T cells as their depletion completely abrogated therapeutic efficacy. The use of anti-PD-1 immune checkpoint blockade did not improve the therapeutic outcome of G47Δ-mIL2. CONCLUSIONS Our findings illustrate that G47Δ-mIL2 is efficacious, stimulates antitumor immunity against orthotopic GBM, and may also target GSC. OHSV expressing IL-2 may represent an agent that merits further exploration in patients with GBM.
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Affiliation(s)
- Praveen K Bommareddy
- Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Brain Tumor Research Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ), New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
| | - Hiroaki Wakimoto
- Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Brain Tumor Research Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Robert L Martuza
- Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Brain Tumor Research Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Howard L Kaufman
- Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Brain Tumor Research Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Samuel D Rabkin
- Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Brain Tumor Research Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Dipongkor Saha
- Department of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, California Northstate University College of Pharmacy, Elk Grove, California, USA
- Department of Immunotherapeutics and Biotechnology, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Pharmacy, Abilene, Texas, USA
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2
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Floerchinger A, Klein JE, Finkbeiner MSC, Schäfer TE, Fuchs G, Doerner J, Zirngibl H, Ackermann M, Kvasnicka HM, Chester KA, Jäger D, Ball CR, Ungerechts G, Engeland CE. A vector-encoded bispecific killer engager to harness virus-activated NK cells as anti-tumor effectors. Cell Death Dis 2023; 14:104. [PMID: 36765035 PMCID: PMC9918448 DOI: 10.1038/s41419-023-05624-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2022] [Revised: 01/20/2023] [Accepted: 01/26/2023] [Indexed: 02/12/2023]
Abstract
Treatment with oncolytic measles vaccines (MV) elicits activation of immune cells, including natural killer (NK) cells. However, we found that MV-activated NK cells show only modest direct cytotoxic activity against tumor cells. To specifically direct NK cells towards tumor cells, we developed oncolytic measles vaccines encoding bispecific killer engagers (MV-BiKE) targeting CD16A on NK cells and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) as a model tumor antigen. MV-BiKE are only slightly attenuated compared to parental MV and mediate secretion of functional BiKE from infected tumor cells. We tested MV-BiKE activity in cocultures of colorectal or pancreatic cancer cells with primary human NK cells. MV-BiKE mediate expression of effector cytokines, degranulation and specific anti-tumor cytotoxicity by NK cells. Experiments with patient-derived pancreatic cancer cultures indicate that efficacy of MV-BiKE may vary between individual tumors with differential virus permissiveness. Remarkably, we confirmed MV-BiKE activity in primaryhuman colorectal carcinoma specimens with autochthonous tumor and NK cells.This study provides proof-of-concept for MV-BiKE as a novel immunovirotherapy to harness virus-activated NK cells as anti-tumor effectors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessia Floerchinger
- Clinical Cooperation Unit Virotherapy, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT), Heidelberg, Germany
- Center for Biomedical Education and Research (ZBAF), Institute of Virology and Microbiology, Faculty of Health, School of Medicine, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany
| | - Jessica E Klein
- Clinical Cooperation Unit Virotherapy, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT), Heidelberg, Germany
- Medical Faculty, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Maximiliane S C Finkbeiner
- Center for Biomedical Education and Research (ZBAF), Institute of Virology and Microbiology, Faculty of Health, School of Medicine, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany
| | - Theresa E Schäfer
- Clinical Cooperation Unit Virotherapy, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT), Heidelberg, Germany
- Medical Faculty, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Gwendolin Fuchs
- Clinical Cooperation Unit Virotherapy, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT), Heidelberg, Germany
- Francis Crick Institute, London, UK
| | - Johannes Doerner
- Department of Surgery, Helios University Hospital Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany
| | - Hubert Zirngibl
- Department of Surgery, Helios University Hospital Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany
| | - Maximilian Ackermann
- Institute of Pathology and Molecular Pathology, Helios University Clinic Wuppertal, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany
| | - Hans M Kvasnicka
- Institute of Pathology and Molecular Pathology, Helios University Clinic Wuppertal, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany
| | | | - Dirk Jäger
- Department of Medical Oncology, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Claudia R Ball
- Department of Translational Medical Oncology, National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT/UCC), Dresden, Germany: German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany; Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden - Rossendorf (HZDR), Dresden, Germany
- German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Dresden, Germany
- Translational Medical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
- Technische Universität Dresden, Faculty of Biology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Guy Ungerechts
- Clinical Cooperation Unit Virotherapy, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT), Heidelberg, Germany
- Department of Medical Oncology, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Christine E Engeland
- Clinical Cooperation Unit Virotherapy, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT), Heidelberg, Germany.
- Center for Biomedical Education and Research (ZBAF), Institute of Virology and Microbiology, Faculty of Health, School of Medicine, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany.
- Department of Medical Oncology, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
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Ma R, Li Z, Chiocca EA, Caligiuri MA, Yu J. The emerging field of oncolytic virus-based cancer immunotherapy. Trends Cancer 2023; 9:122-139. [PMID: 36402738 PMCID: PMC9877109 DOI: 10.1016/j.trecan.2022.10.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 57.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2022] [Revised: 10/03/2022] [Accepted: 10/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Oncolytic viruses (OVs) provide novel and promising therapeutic options for patients with cancers resistant to traditional therapies. Natural or genetically modified OVs are multifaceted tumor killers. They directly lyse tumor cells while sparing normal cells, and indirectly potentiate antitumor immunity by releasing antigens and activating inflammatory responses in the tumor microenvironment. However, some limitations, such as limited penetration of OVs into tumors, short persistence, and the host antiviral immune response, are impeding the broad translation of oncolytic virotherapy into the clinic. If these challenges can be overcome, combination therapies, such as OVs plus immune checkpoint blockade (ICB), chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells, or CAR natural killer (NK) cells, may provide powerful therapeutic platforms in the clinic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rui Ma
- Department of Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, City of Hope National Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 91010, USA; Laboratory of Molecular Oncology, Frontiers Science Center for Disease-related Molecular Network, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy and Cancer Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, PR China
| | - Zhenlong Li
- Department of Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, City of Hope National Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 91010, USA
| | - E Antonio Chiocca
- Harvey Cushing Neuro-Oncology Laboratories, Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Michael A Caligiuri
- Department of Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, City of Hope National Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 91010, USA; Hematologic Malignancies Research Institute, City of Hope National Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 91010, USA; Comprehensive Cancer Center, City of Hope, Los Angeles, CA 91010, USA
| | - Jianhua Yu
- Department of Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, City of Hope National Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 91010, USA; Hematologic Malignancies Research Institute, City of Hope National Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 91010, USA; Comprehensive Cancer Center, City of Hope, Los Angeles, CA 91010, USA; Department of Immuno-Oncology, Beckman Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA 91010, USA.
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Jafari M, Kadkhodazadeh M, Shapourabadi MB, Goradel NH, Shokrgozar MA, Arashkia A, Abdoli S, Sharifzadeh Z. Immunovirotherapy: The role of antibody based therapeutics combination with oncolytic viruses. Front Immunol 2022; 13:1012806. [PMID: 36311790 PMCID: PMC9608759 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.1012806] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2022] [Accepted: 09/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite the fact that the new drugs and targeted therapies have been approved for cancer therapy during the past 30 years, the majority of cancer types are still remain challenging to be treated. Due to the tumor heterogeneity, immune system evasion and the complex interaction between the tumor microenvironment and immune cells, the great majority of malignancies need multimodal therapy. Unfortunately, tumors frequently develop treatment resistance, so it is important to have a variety of therapeutic choices available for the treatment of neoplastic diseases. Immunotherapy has lately shown clinical responses in malignancies with unfavorable outcomes. Oncolytic virus (OV) immunotherapy is a cancer treatment strategy that employs naturally occurring or genetically-modified viruses that multiply preferentially within cancer cells. OVs have the ability to not only induce oncolysis but also activate cells of the immune system, which in turn activates innate and adaptive anticancer responses. Despite the fact that OVs were translated into clinical trials, with T-VECs receiving FDA approval for melanoma, their use in fighting cancer faced some challenges, including off-target side effects, immune system clearance, non-specific uptake, and intratumoral spread of OVs in solid tumors. Although various strategies have been used to overcome the challenges, these strategies have not provided promising outcomes in monotherapy with OVs. In this situation, it is increasingly common to use rational combinations of immunotherapies to improve patient benefit. With the development of other aspects of cancer immunotherapy strategies, combinational therapy has been proposed to improve the anti-tumor activities of OVs. In this regard, OVs were combined with other biotherapeutic platforms, including various forms of antibodies, nanobodies, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells, and dendritic cells, to reduce the side effects of OVs and enhance their efficacy. This article reviews the promising outcomes of OVs in cancer therapy, the challenges OVs face and solutions, and their combination with other biotherapeutic agents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mahdie Jafari
- Department of Immunology, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran
| | | | | | - Nasser Hashemi Goradel
- Department of Medical Biotechnology, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | | | - Arash Arashkia
- Department of Molecular Virology, Pasture Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran
| | - Shahriyar Abdoli
- School of Advanced Medical Technologies, Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Gorgan, Iran
- *Correspondence: Zahra Sharifzadeh, ; Shahriyar Abdoli,
| | - Zahra Sharifzadeh
- Department of Immunology, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran
- *Correspondence: Zahra Sharifzadeh, ; Shahriyar Abdoli,
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He T, Hao Z, Lin M, Xin Z, Chen Y, Ouyang W, Yang Q, Chen X, Zhou H, Zhang W, Wu P, Xu F. Oncolytic adenovirus promotes vascular normalization and nonclassical tertiary lymphoid structure formation through STING-mediated DC activation. Oncoimmunology 2022; 11:2093054. [PMID: 35800155 PMCID: PMC9255224 DOI: 10.1080/2162402x.2022.2093054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Inducing a full antitumor immune response in the tumor microenvironment (TME) is essential for successful cancer immunotherapy. Here, we report that an oncolytic adenovirus carrying mIL-15 (Ad-IL15) can effectively induce antitumor immune response and inhibit tumor growth in a mouse model of cancer. We found that Ad-IL15 facilitated the activation and infiltration of immune cells, including dendritic cells (DCs), T cells and natural killer (NK) cells, in the TME. Unexpectedly, we observed that Ad-IL15 also induced vascular normalization and tertiary lymphoid structure formation in the TME. Moreover, we demonstrated these Ad-IL15-induced changes in the TME were depended on the Ad-IL15-induced activation of the STING-TBK1-IRF3 pathway in DCs. Taken together, our findings suggest that Ad-IL15 is a candidate for cancer immunotherapy that promotes immune cell activation and infiltration, tumor vascular normalization and tertiary lymphoid structure formation in the TME.
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Affiliation(s)
- Teng He
- Department of Infectious Diseases, the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
| | - Zhixing Hao
- Department of Thoracic Surgery, the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
- Key Laboratory of Tumor Microenvironment and Immune Therapy of Zhejiang Province, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
| | - Mingjie Lin
- Department of Thoracic Surgery, the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
- Key Laboratory of Tumor Microenvironment and Immune Therapy of Zhejiang Province, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
| | - Zhongwei Xin
- Department of Thoracic Surgery, the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
- Key Laboratory of Tumor Microenvironment and Immune Therapy of Zhejiang Province, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
| | - Yongyuan Chen
- Department of Thoracic Surgery, the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
- Key Laboratory of Tumor Microenvironment and Immune Therapy of Zhejiang Province, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
| | - Wei Ouyang
- Department of Infectious Diseases, the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
| | - Qi Yang
- Department of Emergency, the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
| | - Xiaoke Chen
- Department of Thoracic Surgery, the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
- Key Laboratory of Tumor Microenvironment and Immune Therapy of Zhejiang Province, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
| | - Hui Zhou
- Department of Infectious Diseases, the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
| | - Wanying Zhang
- Department of Infectious Diseases, the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
| | - Pin Wu
- Department of Thoracic Surgery, the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
- Key Laboratory of Tumor Microenvironment and Immune Therapy of Zhejiang Province, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
| | - Feng Xu
- Department of Infectious Diseases, the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
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Ravirala D, Pei G, Zhao Z, Zhang X. Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals a strong connection between Gadd45g upregulation and oncolytic HSV infection in tumor tissue. Mol Ther Oncolytics 2021; 23:330-341. [PMID: 34786476 PMCID: PMC8573104 DOI: 10.1016/j.omto.2021.10.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2021] [Revised: 09/27/2021] [Accepted: 10/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
The oncolytic effect of virotherapy derives from the intrinsic capability of the applied virus in selectively infecting and killing tumor cells. Although oncolytic viruses of various constructions have been shown to efficiently infect and kill tumor cells in vitro, the efficiency of these viruses to exert the same effect on tumor cells within tumor tissues in vivo has not been extensively investigated. Here we report our studies using single-cell RNA sequencing to comprehensively analyze the gene expression profile of tumor tissues following herpes simplex virus 2-based oncolytic virotherapy. Our data revealed the extent and cell types within the tumor microenvironment that could be infected by the virus. Moreover, we observed changes in the expression of cellular genes, including antiviral genes, in response to viral infection. One notable gene found to be upregulated significantly in oncolytic virus-infected tumor cells was Gadd45g, which is desirable for optimal virus replication. These results not only help reveal the precise infection status of the oncolytic virus in vivo but also provide insight that may lead to the development of new strategies to further enhance the therapeutic efficacy of oncolytic virotherapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Divya Ravirala
- Center for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling, Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA
| | - Guangsheng Pei
- Center for Precision Health, School of Biomedical Informatics, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Zhongming Zhao
- Center for Precision Health, School of Biomedical Informatics, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA
- Human Genetics Center, School of Public Health, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Xiaoliu Zhang
- Center for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling, Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA
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