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Sonoda-Fukuda E, Takeuchi Y, Ogawa N, Noguchi S, Takarada T, Kasahara N, Kubo S. Targeted Suicide Gene Therapy with Retroviral Replicating Vectors for Experimental Canine Cancers. Int J Mol Sci 2024; 25:2657. [PMID: 38473904 DOI: 10.3390/ijms25052657] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2024] [Revised: 02/17/2024] [Accepted: 02/22/2024] [Indexed: 03/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Cancer in dogs has increased in recent years and is a leading cause of death. We have developed a retroviral replicating vector (RRV) that specifically targets cancer cells for infection and replication. RRV carrying a suicide gene induced synchronized killing of cancer cells when administered with a prodrug after infection. In this study, we evaluated two distinct RRVs derived from amphotropic murine leukemia virus (AMLV) and gibbon ape leukemia virus (GALV) in canine tumor models both in vitro and in vivo. Despite low infection rates in normal canine cells, both RRVs efficiently infected and replicated within all the canine tumor cells tested. The efficient intratumoral spread of the RRVs after their intratumoral injection was also demonstrated in nude mouse models of subcutaneous canine tumor xenografts. When both RRVs encoded a yeast cytosine deaminase suicide gene, which converts the prodrug 5-fluorocytosine (5-FC) to the active drug 5-fluorouracil, they caused tumor-cell-specific 5-FC-induced killing of the canine tumor cells in vitro. Furthermore, in the AZACF- and AZACH-cell subcutaneous tumor xenograft models, both RRVs exerted significant antitumor effects. These results suggest that RRV-mediated suicide gene therapy is a novel therapeutic approach to canine cancers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emiko Sonoda-Fukuda
- Laboratory of Molecular and Genetic Therapeutics, Institute of Advanced Medical Science, Hyogo Medical University, Nishinomiya 663-8501, Japan
| | - Yuya Takeuchi
- Laboratory of Molecular and Genetic Therapeutics, Institute of Advanced Medical Science, Hyogo Medical University, Nishinomiya 663-8501, Japan
- Departments of Biomedical Chemistry, School of Science and Technology, Kwansei Gakuin University, Sanda 669-1330, Japan
| | - Nao Ogawa
- Laboratory of Molecular and Genetic Therapeutics, Institute of Advanced Medical Science, Hyogo Medical University, Nishinomiya 663-8501, Japan
- Departments of Biomedical Chemistry, School of Science and Technology, Kwansei Gakuin University, Sanda 669-1330, Japan
| | - Shunsuke Noguchi
- Laboratory of Veterinary Radiology, Graduate School of Veterinary Science, Osaka Metropolitan University, Izumisano 598-8531, Japan
| | - Toru Takarada
- Laboratory of Molecular and Genetic Therapeutics, Institute of Advanced Medical Science, Hyogo Medical University, Nishinomiya 663-8501, Japan
- Laboratory of Functional Molecular Chemistry, Kobe Pharmaceutical University, Kobe 658-8558, Japan
| | - Noriyuki Kasahara
- Departments of Neurological Surgery and Radiation Oncology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
| | - Shuji Kubo
- Laboratory of Molecular and Genetic Therapeutics, Institute of Advanced Medical Science, Hyogo Medical University, Nishinomiya 663-8501, Japan
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Vosough P, Vafadar A, Naderi S, Alashti SK, Karimi S, Irajie C, Savardashtaki A, Taghizadeh S. Escherichia coli cytosine deaminase: Structural and biotechnological aspects. Biotechnol Appl Biochem 2024; 71:5-16. [PMID: 37743549 DOI: 10.1002/bab.2516] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2023] [Accepted: 09/11/2023] [Indexed: 09/26/2023]
Abstract
Suicide gene therapy involves introducing viral or bacterial genes into tumor cells, which enables the conversion of a nontoxic prodrug into a toxic-lethal drug. The application of the bacterial cytosine deaminase (bCD)/5-fluorocytosine (5-FC) approach has been beneficial and progressive within the current field of cancer therapy because of the enhanced bystander effect. The basis of this method is the preferential deamination of 5-FC to 5-fluorouracil by cancer cells expressing cytosine deaminase (CD), which strongly inhibits DNA synthesis and RNA function, effectively targeting tumor cells. However, the poor binding affinity of toward 5-FC compared to the natural substrate cytosine and/or inappropriate thermostability limits the clinical applications of this gene therapy approach. Nowadays, many genetic engineering studies have been carried out to solve and improve the activity of this enzyme. In the current review, we intend to discuss the biotechnological aspects of Escherichia coli CD, including its structure, functions, molecular cloning, and protein engineering. We will also explore its relevance in cancer clinical trials. By examining these aspects, we hope to provide a thorough understanding of E. coli CD and its potential applications in cancer therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Parisa Vosough
- Student Research Committee, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
- Department of Medical Biotechnology, School of Advanced Medical Sciences and Technologies, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
| | - Asma Vafadar
- Student Research Committee, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
- Department of Medical Biotechnology, School of Advanced Medical Sciences and Technologies, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
| | - Samaneh Naderi
- Department of Medical Biotechnology, School of Advanced Medical Sciences and Technologies, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
| | - Shayan Khalili Alashti
- Department of Medical Biotechnology, School of Advanced Medical Sciences and Technologies, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
- Epilepsy Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
| | - Sara Karimi
- Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran
| | - Cambyz Irajie
- Department of Medical Biotechnology, School of Advanced Medical Sciences and Technologies, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
- Pharmaceutical Science Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
| | - Amir Savardashtaki
- Department of Medical Biotechnology, School of Advanced Medical Sciences and Technologies, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
- Infertility Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
| | - Saeed Taghizadeh
- Department of Medical Biotechnology, School of Advanced Medical Sciences and Technologies, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
- Pharmaceutical Science Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
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3
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Pathak S, Singh V, Kumar N, Jayandharan GR. Inducible caspase 9-mediated suicide gene therapy using AAV6 vectors in a murine model of breast cancer. Mol Ther Methods Clin Dev 2023; 31:101166. [PMID: 38149057 PMCID: PMC10750187 DOI: 10.1016/j.omtm.2023.101166] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2023] [Accepted: 11/20/2023] [Indexed: 12/28/2023]
Abstract
Breast carcinoma has one of the highest incidence rates (11.7%), with significant clinical heterogeneity. Although conventional chemotherapy and surgical resection are the current standard of care, the resistance and recurrence, after these interventions, necessitate alternate therapeutic approaches. Cancer gene therapy for breast cancer with the suicide gene is an attractive option due to their directed delivery into the tumor. In this study, we have developed a novel treatment strategy against breast cancer with recombinant adeno-associated virus (AAV) serotype 6 vectors carrying a suicide gene, inducible Caspase 9 (iCasp9). Upon treatment with AAV6-iCasp9 vectors and the chemical inducer of dimerizer, AP20187, the viability of murine breast cancer cells (4T1) was significantly reduced to ∼40%-60% (mock control 100%). Following intratumoral delivery of AAV6-iCasp9 vectors in an orthotopic breast cancer mouse model, we observed a significant increase in iCasp9 transgene expression and a significant reduction in tumor growth rate. At the molecular level, immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated subsequent activation of the effector caspase 3 and cellular death. These data highlight the potential of AAV6-iCasp9-based suicide gene therapy for aggressive breast cancer in patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Subhajit Pathak
- Laurus Center for Gene Therapy, Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering and Mehta Family Center for Engineering in Medicine and Gangwal School of Medical Sciences and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh 208016, India
| | - Vijayata Singh
- Laurus Center for Gene Therapy, Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering and Mehta Family Center for Engineering in Medicine and Gangwal School of Medical Sciences and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh 208016, India
| | - Narendra Kumar
- Laurus Center for Gene Therapy, Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering and Mehta Family Center for Engineering in Medicine and Gangwal School of Medical Sciences and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh 208016, India
| | - Giridhara R. Jayandharan
- Laurus Center for Gene Therapy, Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering and Mehta Family Center for Engineering in Medicine and Gangwal School of Medical Sciences and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh 208016, India
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Faisal SM, Castro MG, Lowenstein PR. Combined cytotoxic and immune-stimulatory gene therapy using Ad-TK and Ad-Flt3L: Translational developments from rodents to glioma patients. Mol Ther 2023; 31:2839-2860. [PMID: 37574780 PMCID: PMC10556227 DOI: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2023.08.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2023] [Revised: 07/14/2023] [Accepted: 08/10/2023] [Indexed: 08/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Gliomas are the most prevalent and devastating primary malignant brain tumors in adults. Despite substantial advances in understanding glioma biology, there have been no regulatory drug approvals in the US since bevacizumab in 2009 and tumor treating fields in 2011. Recent phase III clinical trials have failed to meet their prespecified therapeutic primary endpoints, highlighting the need for novel therapies. The poor prognosis of glioma patients, resistance to chemo-radiotherapy, and the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment underscore the need for the development of novel therapies. Gene therapy-based immunotherapeutic strategies that couple the ability of the host immune system to specifically kill glioma cells and develop immunological memory have shown remarkable progress. Two adenoviral vectors expressing Ad-HSV1-TK/GCV and Ad-Flt3L have shown promising preclinical data, leading to FDA approval of a non-randomized, phase I open-label, first in human trial to test safety, cytotoxicity, and immune-stimulatory efficiency in high-grade glioma patients (NCT01811992). This review provides a thorough overview of immune-stimulatory gene therapy highlighting recent advancements, potential drawbacks, future directions, and recommendations for future implementation of clinical trials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Syed M Faisal
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48108, USA; Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48108, USA; Rogel Cancer Centre, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48108, USA
| | - Maria G Castro
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48108, USA; Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48108, USA; Rogel Cancer Centre, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48108, USA
| | - Pedro R Lowenstein
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48108, USA; Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48108, USA; Rogel Cancer Centre, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48108, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48108, USA.
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Xu N, Tian H, Po Fung C, Lin Y, Chen Y, Zhu G, Shen Y, Guo C, Yang H. Inhibition of human oral squamous cell carcinoma proliferation and migration by prodrug-activating suicide gene therapies. Exp Ther Med 2023; 25:92. [PMID: 36761002 PMCID: PMC9905654 DOI: 10.3892/etm.2023.11790] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [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: 06/12/2022] [Accepted: 11/09/2022] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), which originates from mucosal epithelium in the oral cavity, pharynx and larynx, is the sixth most common malignancy in the world. The prognosis of HNSCC is not satisfactory due to metastasis, resulting in 5-year survival rates ranging from 65.9 to 67.2%. Previously, we developed a method to evaluate the effect prodrug-activating suicide gene (PA-SG) therapy on the proliferation of HNSCC. The present study investigated PA-SG therapy on metastatic HNSCC by wound-healing assay and our previously established method. HSC-3 cells with stable expression of suicide genes thymidine kinase (TK) or cytosine deaminase (CD) were treated with prodrugs ganciclovir (GCV) or 5-fluorocytosine (5-FC), respectively. Both GCV and 5-FC inhibited HSC-3 proliferation while the bystander effect of CD/5-FC was greater compared with that of TK/GCV. GCV showed a greater anti-migration effect compared with that of 5-FC. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to evaluate the anti-migratory and anti-proliferative effects of PA-SG therapies on metastatic HNSCC. This may also serve as a general method to quantify other types of PA-SC therapy. The present results demonstrated that PA-SG therapy is a promising treatment for anti-metastatic HNSCC therapy development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Naining Xu
- Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Stomatological Center, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen Peking University, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Medical Center, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518001, P.R. China
- Guangdong Provincial High-level Clinical Key Specialty, Guangdong Province Engineering Research Center of Oral Disease Diagnosis and Treatment, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518001, P.R. China
| | - Honglei Tian
- Division of Life Science, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong 999077, P.R. China
| | - Chun Po Fung
- Division of Life Science, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong 999077, P.R. China
| | - Yuntao Lin
- Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Stomatological Center, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen Peking University, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Medical Center, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518001, P.R. China
- Guangdong Provincial High-level Clinical Key Specialty, Guangdong Province Engineering Research Center of Oral Disease Diagnosis and Treatment, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518001, P.R. China
| | - Yuling Chen
- Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Stomatological Center, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen Peking University, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Medical Center, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518001, P.R. China
- Guangdong Provincial High-level Clinical Key Specialty, Guangdong Province Engineering Research Center of Oral Disease Diagnosis and Treatment, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518001, P.R. China
| | - Guang Zhu
- Division of Life Science, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong 999077, P.R. China
| | - Yuehong Shen
- Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Stomatological Center, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen Peking University, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Medical Center, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518001, P.R. China
- Guangdong Provincial High-level Clinical Key Specialty, Guangdong Province Engineering Research Center of Oral Disease Diagnosis and Treatment, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518001, P.R. China
| | - Chuanbin Guo
- Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Peking University School and Hospital of Stomatology, Beijing 100081, P.R. China
| | - Hongyu Yang
- Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Stomatological Center, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen Peking University, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Medical Center, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518001, P.R. China
- Guangdong Provincial High-level Clinical Key Specialty, Guangdong Province Engineering Research Center of Oral Disease Diagnosis and Treatment, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518001, P.R. China
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Loh PS, Patzel V. Non-Covalent Linkage of Helper Functions to Dumbbell-Shaped DNA Vectors for Targeted Delivery. Pharmaceutics 2023; 15. [PMID: 36839697 DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics15020370] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2022] [Revised: 12/19/2022] [Accepted: 01/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Covalently closed dumbbell-shaped DNA delivery vectors comprising the double-stranded gene(s) of interest and single-stranded hairpin loops on both ends represent a safe, stable and efficacious alternative to viral and other non-viral DNA-based vector systems. As opposed to plasmids and DNA minicircles, dumbbells can be conjugated via the loops with helper functions for targeted delivery or imaging. Here, we investigated the non-covalent linkage of tri-antennary N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc3) or a homodimer of a CD137/4-1BB-binding aptamer (aptCD137-2) to extended dumbbell vector loops via complementary oligonucleotides for targeted delivery into hepatocytes or nasopharyngeal cancer cells. Enlarging the dumbbell loop size from 4 to 71 nucleotides for conjugation did not impair gene expression. GalNAc3 and aptCD137-2 residues were successfully attached to the extended dumbbell loop via complementary oligonucleotides. DNA and RNA oligonucleotide-based dumbbell-GalNAc3 conjugates were taken up from the cell culture medium by hepatoblastoma-derived human tissue culture cells (HepG2) with comparable efficiency. RNA oligonucleotide-linked conjugates triggered slightly higher levels of gene expression, presumably due to the RNaseH-mediated linker cleavage, the release of the dumbbell from the GalNAc3 residue and more efficient nuclear targeting of the unconjugated dumbbell DNA. The RNaseH-triggered RNA linker cleavage was confirmed in vitro. Finally, we featured dumbbell vectors expressing liver cancer cell-specific RNA trans-splicing-based suicide RNAs with GalNAc3 residues. Dumbbells conjugated with two GalNAc3 residues triggered significant levels of cell death when added to the cell culture medium. Dumbbell vector conjugates can be explored for targeted delivery and gene therapeutic applications.
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Egorova A, Selutin A, Maretina M, Selkov S, Kiselev A. Peptide-Based Nanoparticles for αvβ3 Integrin-Targeted DNA Delivery to Cancer and Uterine Leiomyoma Cells. Molecules 2022; 27. [PMID: 36500454 DOI: 10.3390/molecules27238363] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2022] [Revised: 11/25/2022] [Accepted: 11/28/2022] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Uterine leiomyoma is the most common benign tumor of the reproductive system. Current therapeutic options do not simultaneously meet the requirements of long-term efficiency and fertility preservation. Suicide gene delivery can be proposed as a novel approach to uterine leiomyoma therapy. Non-viral vehicles are an attractive approach to DNA delivery for gene therapy of both malignant and benign tumors. Peptide-based vectors are among the most promising candidates for the development of artificial viruses, being able to efficiently cross barriers of DNA transport to cells. Here we described nanoparticles composed of cysteine-crosslinked polymer and histidine-arginine-rich peptide modified with iRGD moiety and characterized them as vehicles for plasmid DNA delivery to pancreatic cancer PANC-1 cells and the uterine leiomyoma cell model. Several variants of nanoparticles were formulated with different targeting ligand content. The physicochemical properties that were studied included DNA binding and protection, interaction with polyanions and reducing agents, size, structure and zeta-potential of the peptide-based nanoparticles. Cytotoxicity, cell uptake and gene transfection efficiency were assessed in PANC-1 cells with GFP and LacZ-encoding plasmids. The specificity of gene transfection via αvβ3 integrin binding was proved in competitive transfection. The therapeutic potential was evaluated in a uterine leiomyoma cell model using the suicide gene therapy approach. The optimal formulation was found to be at the polyplex with the highest iRGD moiety content being able to transfect cells more efficiently than control PEI. Suicide gene therapy using the best formulation resulted in a significant decrease of uterine leiomyoma cells after ganciclovir treatment. It can be concluded that the application of iRGD-modified peptide-based nanoparticles has a high potential for cellular delivery of DNA therapeutics in favor of uterine leiomyoma gene therapy.
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Alekseenko I, Kuzmich A, Kondratyeva L, Kondratieva S, Pleshkan V, Sverdlov E. Step-by-Step Immune Activation for Suicide Gene Therapy Reinforcement. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:ijms22179376. [PMID: 34502287 PMCID: PMC8430744 DOI: 10.3390/ijms22179376] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2021] [Revised: 08/22/2021] [Accepted: 08/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Gene-directed enzyme prodrug gene therapy (GDEPT) theoretically represents a useful method to carry out chemotherapy for cancer with minimal side effects through the formation of a chemotherapeutic agent inside cancer cells. However, despite great efforts, promising preliminary results, and a long period of time (over 25 years) since the first mention of this method, GDEPT has not yet reached the clinic. There is a growing consensus that optimal cancer therapies should generate robust tumor-specific immune responses. The advent of checkpoint immunotherapy has yielded new highly promising avenues of study in cancer therapy. For such therapy, it seems reasonable to use combinations of different immunomodulators alongside traditional methods, such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, as well as GDEPT. In this review, we focused on non-viral gene immunotherapy systems combining the intratumoral production of toxins diffused by GDEPT and immunomodulatory molecules. Special attention was paid to the applications and mechanisms of action of the granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM–CSF), a cytokine that is widely used but shows contradictory effects. Another method to enhance the formation of stable immune responses in a tumor, the use of danger signals, is also discussed. The process of dying from GDEPT cancer cells initiates danger signaling by releasing damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) that exert immature dendritic cells by increasing antigen uptake, maturation, and antigen presentation to cytotoxic T-lymphocytes. We hypothesized that the combined action of this danger signal and GM–CSF issued from the same dying cancer cell within a limited space would focus on a limited pool of immature dendritic cells, thus acting synergistically and enhancing their maturation and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte attraction potential. We also discuss the problem of enhancing the cancer specificity of the combined GDEPT–GM–CSF–danger signal system by means of artificial cancer specific promoters or a modified delivery system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irina Alekseenko
- Institute of Molecular Genetics of National Research Centre “Kurchatov Institute”, 123182 Moscow, Russia; (A.K.); (V.P.)
- Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 117997 Moscow, Russia; (L.K.); (S.K.)
- Institute of Oncogynecology and Mammology, National Medical Research Center for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology Named after Academician V.I. Kulakov of the Ministry of Healthcare of Russian Federation, 117997 Moscow, Russia
- Correspondence: (I.A.); (E.S.)
| | - Alexey Kuzmich
- Institute of Molecular Genetics of National Research Centre “Kurchatov Institute”, 123182 Moscow, Russia; (A.K.); (V.P.)
- Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 117997 Moscow, Russia; (L.K.); (S.K.)
| | - Liya Kondratyeva
- Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 117997 Moscow, Russia; (L.K.); (S.K.)
| | - Sofia Kondratieva
- Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 117997 Moscow, Russia; (L.K.); (S.K.)
| | - Victor Pleshkan
- Institute of Molecular Genetics of National Research Centre “Kurchatov Institute”, 123182 Moscow, Russia; (A.K.); (V.P.)
- Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 117997 Moscow, Russia; (L.K.); (S.K.)
| | - Eugene Sverdlov
- Institute of Molecular Genetics of National Research Centre “Kurchatov Institute”, 123182 Moscow, Russia; (A.K.); (V.P.)
- Correspondence: (I.A.); (E.S.)
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Tamura R, Miyoshi H, Morimoto Y, Oishi Y, Sampetrean O, Iwasawa C, Mine Y, Saya H, Yoshida K, Okano H, Toda M. Gene Therapy Using Neural Stem/Progenitor Cells Derived from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells: Visualization of Migration and Bystander Killing Effect. Hum Gene Ther 2021; 31:352-366. [PMID: 32075424 DOI: 10.1089/hum.2019.326] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Glioblastoma is the most aggressive brain tumor characterized by diffuse infiltration into the normal brain parenchyma. Neural stem cells are known to possess the tumor-tropic migratory capacity and thus can be used as cellular vehicles for targeted delivery of therapeutic agents. In the present study, we evaluated the efficacy of herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-TK) suicide gene therapy for glioblastoma using neural stem/progenitor cells (NS/PCs) derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs). Although transduction of hiPSCs is preferable for a safe and stable supply in the clinical setting, high-level and/or constitutive HSV-TK expression was highly cytotoxic to hiPSCs. To overcome this problem, we used the tetracycline-inducible system to control the expression of HSV-TK. hiPSC-derived NS/PCs expressing HSV-TK were transplanted in an orthotopic xenograft mouse model of human glioblastoma. Glioblastoma cell growth in mice was dramatically inhibited following ganciclovir (GCV) administration. Survival of the mice was significantly prolonged with administration of GCV compared with control groups. Time-lapse imaging of organotypic brain slice cultures first demonstrated the directional migration of NS/PCs toward glioblastoma cells and the bystander killing effect upon GCV treatment. hiPSC-derived NS/PCs with HSV-TK/GCV suicide gene system may have considerable therapeutic potential for the treatment of glioblastoma. Color images are available online.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryota Tamura
- Departments of Neurosurgery, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Hiroyuki Miyoshi
- Departments of Physiology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Yukina Morimoto
- Departments of Neurosurgery, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Yumiko Oishi
- Departments of Neurosurgery, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Oltea Sampetrean
- Division of Gene Regulation, Institute for Advanced Medical Research, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Chizuru Iwasawa
- Department of Pharmacology, Hoshi University School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Yutaka Mine
- Departments of Physiology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Hideyuki Saya
- Division of Gene Regulation, Institute for Advanced Medical Research, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Kazunari Yoshida
- Departments of Neurosurgery, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Hideyuki Okano
- Departments of Physiology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Masahiro Toda
- Departments of Neurosurgery, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
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Acosta J, Pérez E, Sánchez-Murcia PA, Fillat C, Fernández-Lucas J. Molecular Basis of NDT-Mediated Activation of Nucleoside-Based Prodrugs and Application in Suicide Gene Therapy. Biomolecules 2021; 11:biom11010120. [PMID: 33477716 PMCID: PMC7831932 DOI: 10.3390/biom11010120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2020] [Revised: 01/11/2021] [Accepted: 01/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Herein we report the first proof for the application of type II 2′-deoxyribosyltransferase from Lactobacillus delbrueckii (LdNDT) in suicide gene therapy for cancer treatment. To this end, we first confirm the hydrolytic ability of LdNDT over the nucleoside-based prodrugs 2′-deoxy-5-fluorouridine (dFUrd), 2′-deoxy-2-fluoroadenosine (dFAdo), and 2′-deoxy-6-methylpurine riboside (d6MetPRib). Such activity was significantly increased (up to 30-fold) in the presence of an acceptor nucleobase. To shed light on the strong nucleobase dependence for enzymatic activity, different molecular dynamics simulations were carried out. Finally, as a proof of concept, we tested the LdNDT/dFAdo system in human cervical cancer (HeLa) cells. Interestingly, LdNDT/dFAdo showed a pronounced reduction in cellular viability with inhibitory concentrations in the low micromolar range. These results open up future opportunities for the clinical implementation of nucleoside 2′-deoxyribosyltransferases (NDTs) in cancer treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Javier Acosta
- Applied Biotechnology Group, European University of Madrid, c/ Tajo s/n, Villaviciosa de Odón, 28670 Madrid, Spain; (J.A.); (E.P.)
| | - Elena Pérez
- Applied Biotechnology Group, European University of Madrid, c/ Tajo s/n, Villaviciosa de Odón, 28670 Madrid, Spain; (J.A.); (E.P.)
| | - Pedro A. Sánchez-Murcia
- Division of Physiological Chemistry, Otto-Loewi Research Center, Medical University of Graz, Neue Stiftingtalstraße 6/III, A-8010 Graz, Austria;
| | - Cristina Fillat
- Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), 08036 Barcelona, Spain;
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Raras (CIBERER), 08036 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Jesús Fernández-Lucas
- Division of Physiological Chemistry, Otto-Loewi Research Center, Medical University of Graz, Neue Stiftingtalstraße 6/III, A-8010 Graz, Austria;
- Grupo de Investigación en Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, GICNEX, Universidad de la Costa, CUC, Calle 58 # 55-66 Barranquilla, Colombia
- Correspondence:
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11
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Béguin J, Foloppe J, Maurey C, Laloy E, Hortelano J, Nourtier V, Pichon C, Cochin S, Cordier P, Huet H, Quemeneur E, Klonjkowski B, Erbs P. Preclinical Evaluation of the Oncolytic Vaccinia Virus TG6002 by Translational Research on Canine Breast Cancer. Mol Ther Oncolytics 2020; 19:57-66. [PMID: 33072863 PMCID: PMC7533293 DOI: 10.1016/j.omto.2020.08.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2020] [Accepted: 08/29/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Oncolytic virotherapy is a promising therapeutic approach for the treatment of cancer. TG6002 is a recombinant oncolytic vaccinia virus deleted in the thymidine kinase and ribonucleotide reductase genes and armed with the suicide gene FCU1, which encodes a bifunctional chimeric protein that efficiently catalyzes the direct conversion of the nontoxic 5-fluorocytosine into the toxic metabolite 5-fluorouracil. In translational research, canine tumors and especially mammary cancers are relevant surrogates for human cancers and can be used as preclinical models. Here, we report that TG6002 is able to replicate in canine tumor cell lines and is oncolytic in such cells cultured in 2D or 3D as well as canine mammary tumor explants. Furthermore, intratumoral injections of TG6002 lead to inhibition of the proliferation of canine tumor cells grafted into mice. 5-fluorocytosine treatment of mice significantly improves the anti-tumoral activity of TG6002 infection, a finding that can be correlated with its conversion into 5-fluorouracil within infected fresh canine tumor biopsies. In conclusion, our study suggests that TG6002 associated with 5-fluorocytosine is a promising therapy for human and canine cancers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jérémy Béguin
- UMR Virologie, INRA, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, ANSES, Université Paris-Est, Maisons-Alfort 94700, France
- Transgene S.A., 400 Boulevard Gonthier d’Andernach, Parc d’innovation, CS80166, Illkirch-Graffenstaden Cedex 67405, France
- Service de Médecine Interne, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, Université Paris-Est, Maisons-Alfort, 94700, France
- Corresponding author: Jérémy Béguin, UMR Virologie, INRA, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, ANSES, Université Paris-Est, 7 Avenue du Général de Gaulle, Maisons-Alfort 94700, France.
| | - Johann Foloppe
- Transgene S.A., 400 Boulevard Gonthier d’Andernach, Parc d’innovation, CS80166, Illkirch-Graffenstaden Cedex 67405, France
| | - Christelle Maurey
- Service de Médecine Interne, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, Université Paris-Est, Maisons-Alfort, 94700, France
| | - Eve Laloy
- UMR Virologie, INRA, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, ANSES, Université Paris-Est, Maisons-Alfort 94700, France
- Laboratoire d’Anatomo-cytopathologie, Biopôle Alfort, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, Université Paris-Est, Maisons-Alfort 94700, France
| | - Julie Hortelano
- Transgene S.A., 400 Boulevard Gonthier d’Andernach, Parc d’innovation, CS80166, Illkirch-Graffenstaden Cedex 67405, France
| | - Virginie Nourtier
- Transgene S.A., 400 Boulevard Gonthier d’Andernach, Parc d’innovation, CS80166, Illkirch-Graffenstaden Cedex 67405, France
| | - Christelle Pichon
- Transgene S.A., 400 Boulevard Gonthier d’Andernach, Parc d’innovation, CS80166, Illkirch-Graffenstaden Cedex 67405, France
| | - Sandrine Cochin
- Transgene S.A., 400 Boulevard Gonthier d’Andernach, Parc d’innovation, CS80166, Illkirch-Graffenstaden Cedex 67405, France
| | - Pascale Cordier
- Transgene S.A., 400 Boulevard Gonthier d’Andernach, Parc d’innovation, CS80166, Illkirch-Graffenstaden Cedex 67405, France
| | - Hélène Huet
- UMR Virologie, INRA, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, ANSES, Université Paris-Est, Maisons-Alfort 94700, France
- Laboratoire d’Anatomo-cytopathologie, Biopôle Alfort, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, Université Paris-Est, Maisons-Alfort 94700, France
| | - Eric Quemeneur
- Transgene S.A., 400 Boulevard Gonthier d’Andernach, Parc d’innovation, CS80166, Illkirch-Graffenstaden Cedex 67405, France
| | - Bernard Klonjkowski
- UMR Virologie, INRA, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, ANSES, Université Paris-Est, Maisons-Alfort 94700, France
| | - Philippe Erbs
- Transgene S.A., 400 Boulevard Gonthier d’Andernach, Parc d’innovation, CS80166, Illkirch-Graffenstaden Cedex 67405, France
- Corresponding author: Philippe Erbs, Transgene S.A., 400 Boulevard Gonthier d’Andernach, Parc d’innovation, CS80166, Illkirch-Graffenstaden Cedex 67405, France.
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12
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Hossain JA, Latif MA, Ystaas LAR, Ninzima S, Riecken K, Muller A, Azuaje F, Joseph JV, Talasila KM, Ghimire J, Fehse B, Bjerkvig R, Miletic H. Long-term treatment with valganciclovir improves lentiviral suicide gene therapy of glioblastoma. Neuro Oncol 2020; 21:890-900. [PMID: 30958558 DOI: 10.1093/neuonc/noz060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Suicide gene therapy for malignant gliomas has shown encouraging results in the latest clinical trials. However, prodrug application was most often restricted to short-term treatment (14 days), especially when replication-defective vectors were used. We previously showed that a substantial fraction of herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-TK) transduced tumor cells survive ganciclovir (GCV) treatment in an orthotopic glioblastoma (GBM) xenograft model. Here we analyzed whether these TK+ tumor cells are still sensitive to prodrug treatment and whether prolonged prodrug treatment can enhance treatment efficacy. METHODS Glioma cells positive for TK and green fluorescent protein (GFP) were sorted from xenograft tumors recurring after suicide gene therapy, and their sensitivity to GCV was tested in vitro. GBM xenografts were treated with HSV-TK/GCV, HSV-TK/valganciclovir (valGCV), or HSV-TK/valGCV + erlotinib. Tumor growth was analyzed by MRI, and survival as well as morphological and molecular changes were assessed. RESULTS TK-GFP+ tumor cells from recurrent xenograft tumors retained sensitivity to GCV in vitro. Importantly, a prolonged period (3 mo) of prodrug administration with valganciclovir (valGCV) resulted in a significant survival advantage compared with short-term (3 wk) application of GCV. Recurrent tumors from the treatment groups were more invasive and less angiogenic compared with primary tumors and showed significant upregulation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression. However, double treatment with the EGFR inhibitor erlotinib did not increase therapeutic efficacy. CONCLUSION Long-term treatment with valGCV should be considered as a replacement for short-term treatment with GCV in clinical trials of HSV-TK mediated suicide gene therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jubayer A Hossain
- Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.,Department of Pathology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
| | - Md A Latif
- Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.,Department of Pathology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
| | - Lars A R Ystaas
- Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Sandra Ninzima
- Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.,Department of Pathology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
| | - Kristoffer Riecken
- Research Department Cell and Gene Therapy, Department of Stem Cell Transplantation, University Medical Center, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Arnaud Muller
- Bioinformatics Team, Center for Quantitative Biology, Luxembourg Institute of Health, Strassen, Luxembourg
| | - Francisco Azuaje
- Bioinformatics Team, Center for Quantitative Biology, Luxembourg Institute of Health, Strassen, Luxembourg
| | - Justin V Joseph
- Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | | | - Jiwan Ghimire
- Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Boris Fehse
- Research Department Cell and Gene Therapy, Department of Stem Cell Transplantation, University Medical Center, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Rolf Bjerkvig
- Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.,Norlux Neuro-Oncology Laboratory, Department of Oncology, Luxembourg Institute of Health, Strassen, Luxembourg
| | - Hrvoje Miletic
- Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.,Department of Pathology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
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13
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Kim J, Mondal SK, Tzeng SY, Rui Y, Al-kharboosh R, Kozielski KK, Bhargav AG, Garcia CA, Quiñones-Hinojosa A, Green JJ. Poly(ethylene glycol)-Poly(beta-amino ester)-Based Nanoparticles for Suicide Gene Therapy Enhance Brain Penetration and Extend Survival in a Preclinical Human Glioblastoma Orthotopic Xenograft Model. ACS Biomater Sci Eng 2020; 6:2943-2955. [PMID: 33463272 PMCID: PMC8035708 DOI: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.0c00116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most devastating brain cancer, and cures remain elusive with currently available neurosurgical, pharmacological, and radiation approaches. While retrovirus- and adenovirus-mediated suicide gene therapy using DNA encoding herpes simplex virus-thymidine kinase (HSV-tk) and prodrug ganciclovir has been suggested as a promising strategy, a nonviral approach for treatment in an orthotopic human primary brain tumor model has not previously been demonstrated. Delivery challenges include nanoparticle penetration through brain tumors, efficient cancer cell uptake, endosomal escape to the cytosol, and biodegradability. To meet these challenges, we synthesized poly(ethylene glycol)-modified poly(beta-amino ester) (PEG-PBAE) polymers to improve extracellular delivery and coencapsulated plasmid DNA with end-modified poly(beta-amino ester) (ePBAE) polymers to improve intracellular delivery as well. We created and evaluated a library of PEG-PBAE/ePBAE nanoparticles (NPs) for effective gene therapy against two independent primary human stem-like brain tumor initiating cells, a putative target to prevent GBM recurrence. The optimally engineered PEG-PBAE/ePBAE NP formulation demonstrated 54 and 82% transfection efficacies in GBM1A and BTIC375 cells respectively, in comparison to 37 and 66% for optimized PBAE NPs without PEG. The leading PEG-PBAE NP formulation also maintained sub-250 nm particle size up to 5 h, while PBAE NPs without PEG showed aggregation over time to micrometer-sized complexes. The comparative advantage demonstrated in vitro successfully translated into improved in vivo diffusion, with a higher amount of PEG-PBAE NPs penetrating to a distance of 2 mm from the injection site. A significant increase in median survival from 53.5 to 67 days by PEG-PBAE/pHSV-tk NP and systemic ganciclovir treatment compared to a control group in orthotopic murine model of human glioblastoma demonstrates the potential of PEG-PBAE-based NPs as an effective gene therapy platform for the treatment of human brain tumors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jayoung Kim
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231
- Translational Tissue Engineering Center and Institute for NanoBioTechnology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231
| | - Sujan K. Mondal
- Department of Neurosurgery, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL 32224
| | - Stephany Y. Tzeng
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231
- Translational Tissue Engineering Center and Institute for NanoBioTechnology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231
| | - Yuan Rui
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231
- Translational Tissue Engineering Center and Institute for NanoBioTechnology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231
| | | | - Kristen K. Kozielski
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231
- Translational Tissue Engineering Center and Institute for NanoBioTechnology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231
- Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Heisenbergstr. 3, Stuttgart, 70569, Germany
| | - Adip G. Bhargav
- Department of Neurosurgery, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL 32224
- Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
| | - Cesar A. Garcia
- Department of Neurosurgery, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL 32224
| | | | - Jordan J. Green
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231
- Translational Tissue Engineering Center and Institute for NanoBioTechnology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231
- Department of Neurosurgery, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD 21231
- Department of Oncology, the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer, and the Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231
- Department of Ophthalmology, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21231
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14
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Hossain JA, Marchini A, Fehse B, Bjerkvig R, Miletic H. Suicide gene therapy for the treatment of high-grade glioma: past lessons, present trends, and future prospects. Neurooncol Adv 2020; 2:vdaa013. [PMID: 32642680 PMCID: PMC7212909 DOI: 10.1093/noajnl/vdaa013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [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] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Suicide gene therapy has represented an experimental cancer treatment modality for nearly 40 years. Among the various cancers experimentally treated by suicide gene therapy, high-grade gliomas have been the most prominent both in preclinical and clinical settings. Failure of a number of promising suicide gene therapy strategies in the clinic pointed toward a bleak future of this approach for the treatment of high-grade gliomas. Nevertheless, the development of new vectors and suicide genes, better prodrugs, more efficient delivery systems, and new combinatorial strategies represent active research areas that may eventually lead to better efficacy of suicide gene therapy. These trends are evident by the current increasing focus on suicide gene therapy for high-grade glioma treatment both in the laboratory and in the clinic. In this review, we give an overview of different suicide gene therapy approaches for glioma treatment and discuss clinical trials, delivery issues, and immune responses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jubayer A Hossain
- Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.,Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway.,Department of Oncology, Luxembourg Institute of Health, Strassen, Luxembourg
| | - Antonio Marchini
- Department of Oncology, Luxembourg Institute of Health, Strassen, Luxembourg.,German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Boris Fehse
- Department of Stem Cell Transplantation, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Rolf Bjerkvig
- Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.,Department of Oncology, Luxembourg Institute of Health, Strassen, Luxembourg
| | - Hrvoje Miletic
- Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.,Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
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15
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Li Y, Zhao S, Zhang F, Jin G, Zhou Y, Li P, Shin D, Yang X. Molecular imaging-monitored radiofrequency hyperthermia-enhanced intratumoral herpes simplex virus-thymidine kinase gene therapy for rat orthotopic ovarian cancer. Int J Hyperthermia 2020; 37:101-109. [PMID: 31969028 PMCID: PMC7034662 DOI: 10.1080/02656736.2020.1711973] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2019] [Revised: 12/02/2019] [Accepted: 12/19/2019] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective: To establish the technique of intratumoral combination therapy of radiofrequency hyperthermia (RFH) with herpes simplex virus-thymidine kinase/ganciclovir (HSV-TK/GCV) gene therapy for rat ovarian cancers.Material and methods: This study consisted of three parts: (1) in vitro experiments to establish the 'proof of principal' that combination of RFH and HSV-TK gene therapy has the synergistic effect on human ovarian cancer cells; (2) creation of bioluminescence imaging-detectable rat ovarian cancer model; and (3) in vivo experiments using this rat model to validate the technical feasibility of the combination therapy. Cells and nude rats were divided into four groups: (i) combination therapy (HSV-TK/GCV + RFH); (ii) RFH; (iii) HSV-TK/GCV; and (iv) phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). Data were analyzed using Dunnett t-test or Kruskal-Wallis test.Results: Cell proliferation assay demonstrated significantly greater reduction in viable cells with the combination therapy [0.52 (0.43, 0.61)] compared to other treatments [RFH 0.90 (0.84, 0.96), HSV-TK/GCV 0.71 (0.53, 0.88), PBS 1 (1, 1); p < .05]. For 24 rat models with bioluminescence imaging-detectable orthotopic ovarian cancer (n = 6 per group), optical imaging demonstrated significantly decreased relative bioluminescence signal with the combination therapy [0.81 (0.52, 1.08)] compared to other treatments [RFH 3.60 (2.34, 4.86), HSV-TK/GCV 2.21 (1.71, 2.71), PBS 3.74 (3.19, 4.29); p < .001]. Ultrasound imaging demonstrated the smallest relative tumor volume with the combination therapy [0.78 (0.45, 1.11) versus 3.50 (2.67, 4.33), 2.10 (0.83, 3.37), 3.70 (1.79, 5.61); p < .05].Conclusion: The feasibility of intratumoral RFH-enhanced HSV-TK/GCV gene therapy was established on a unique rat model with molecular imaging-detectable orthotopic ovarian cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yaying Li
- Image-Guided Bio-Molecular Intervention Research and Division of Vascular & Interventional Radiology, Department of Radiology; University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington, USA
- Department of Radiology, Guizhou Provincial People’s Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou University, Guiyang, Guizhou Province, China
| | - Shuhui Zhao
- Image-Guided Bio-Molecular Intervention Research and Division of Vascular & Interventional Radiology, Department of Radiology; University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington, USA
- Department of Radiology, Xinhua Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Feng Zhang
- Image-Guided Bio-Molecular Intervention Research and Division of Vascular & Interventional Radiology, Department of Radiology; University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Guangxin Jin
- Image-Guided Bio-Molecular Intervention Research and Division of Vascular & Interventional Radiology, Department of Radiology; University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Yiming Zhou
- Image-Guided Bio-Molecular Intervention Research and Division of Vascular & Interventional Radiology, Department of Radiology; University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Peicheng Li
- Image-Guided Bio-Molecular Intervention Research and Division of Vascular & Interventional Radiology, Department of Radiology; University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - David Shin
- Image-Guided Bio-Molecular Intervention Research and Division of Vascular & Interventional Radiology, Department of Radiology; University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Xiaoming Yang
- Image-Guided Bio-Molecular Intervention Research and Division of Vascular & Interventional Radiology, Department of Radiology; University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington, USA
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16
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Jiménez-Martínez Y, Griñán-Lisón C, Khaldy H, Martín A, Cambrils A, Ibáñez Grau A, Jiménez G, Marchal JA, Boulaiz H. LdrB Toxin with In Vitro and In Vivo Antitumor Activity as a Potential Tool for Cancer Gene Therapy. Cancers (Basel) 2019; 11:cancers11071016. [PMID: 31330822 PMCID: PMC6678987 DOI: 10.3390/cancers11071016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [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: 05/30/2019] [Revised: 07/16/2019] [Accepted: 07/18/2019] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Due to the high prevalence of cancer in recent years, it is necessary to develop new and more effective therapies that produce fewer side effects. Development of gene therapy for cancer based on the use of suicide genes that can damage the tumor cell, without requiring a prodrug for its lethal effect, is one of the recent foci of gene therapy strategies. We evaluated the cytotoxic impact of the LdrB toxin from Escherichia coli k12 as a possible tool for cancer gene therapy. For that, colorectal and breast cancer cells were transfected under the control of a TRE3G promoter inducible by doxycycline. Our results showed that ldrB gene expression induced a drastic inhibition of proliferation in vitro, in both 2D and 3D experimental models. Moreover, unlike conventional chemotherapy, the ldrB gene induced a severe loss of proliferation in vivo without any side effects in our animal model. This antitumor outcome was modulated by cell cycle arrest in the G0/G1 phase and apoptotic death. Scanning electronic microscopy demonstrates that the LdrB toxin conserves its pore-forming ability in HCT-116 cells as in E. coli k12. Taken together, our results provide, for the first time, a proof of concept of the antitumor capacity of the ldrB gene in colorectal and breast cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yaiza Jiménez-Martínez
- Biopathology and Regenerative Medicine Institute (IBIMER), Centre for Biomedical Research, University of Granada, E-18100 Granada, Spain
- Department of Human Anatomy and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Granada, E-18012 Granada, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA, University Hospitals of Granada-University of Granada, 18012 Granada, Spain
| | - Carmen Griñán-Lisón
- Biopathology and Regenerative Medicine Institute (IBIMER), Centre for Biomedical Research, University of Granada, E-18100 Granada, Spain
- Department of Human Anatomy and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Granada, E-18012 Granada, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA, University Hospitals of Granada-University of Granada, 18012 Granada, Spain
- Research Unit "Modeling Nature" (MNat), University of Granada, 18016 Granada, Spain
| | - Hoda Khaldy
- Fundamental Biology Service, Scientific Instrument Center, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
| | - Ana Martín
- Biopathology and Regenerative Medicine Institute (IBIMER), Centre for Biomedical Research, University of Granada, E-18100 Granada, Spain
| | - Alba Cambrils
- Biopathology and Regenerative Medicine Institute (IBIMER), Centre for Biomedical Research, University of Granada, E-18100 Granada, Spain
| | - Andrea Ibáñez Grau
- Biopathology and Regenerative Medicine Institute (IBIMER), Centre for Biomedical Research, University of Granada, E-18100 Granada, Spain
| | - Gema Jiménez
- Biopathology and Regenerative Medicine Institute (IBIMER), Centre for Biomedical Research, University of Granada, E-18100 Granada, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA, University Hospitals of Granada-University of Granada, 18012 Granada, Spain
- Research Unit "Modeling Nature" (MNat), University of Granada, 18016 Granada, Spain
| | - Juan A Marchal
- Biopathology and Regenerative Medicine Institute (IBIMER), Centre for Biomedical Research, University of Granada, E-18100 Granada, Spain
- Department of Human Anatomy and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Granada, E-18012 Granada, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA, University Hospitals of Granada-University of Granada, 18012 Granada, Spain
- Research Unit "Modeling Nature" (MNat), University of Granada, 18016 Granada, Spain
- Fundamental Biology Service, Scientific Instrument Center, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
| | - Houria Boulaiz
- Biopathology and Regenerative Medicine Institute (IBIMER), Centre for Biomedical Research, University of Granada, E-18100 Granada, Spain.
- Department of Human Anatomy and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Granada, E-18012 Granada, Spain.
- Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA, University Hospitals of Granada-University of Granada, 18012 Granada, Spain.
- Research Unit "Modeling Nature" (MNat), University of Granada, 18016 Granada, Spain.
- Fundamental Biology Service, Scientific Instrument Center, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain.
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17
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Düzgüneş N, Konopka K. Eradication of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type-1 (HIV-1)-Infected Cells. Pharmaceutics 2019; 11:E255. [PMID: 31159417 DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics11060255] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2019] [Revised: 05/01/2019] [Accepted: 05/24/2019] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Predictions made soon after the introduction of human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) protease inhibitors about potentially eradicating the cellular reservoirs of HIV-1 in infected individuals were too optimistic. The ability of the HIV-1 genome to remain in the chromosomes of resting CD4+ T cells and macrophages without being expressed (HIV-1 latency) has prompted studies to activate the cells in the hopes that the immune system can recognize and clear these cells. The absence of natural clearance of latently infected cells has led to the recognition that additional interventions are necessary. Here, we review the potential of utilizing suicide gene therapy to kill infected cells, excising the chromosome-integrated HIV-1 DNA, and targeting cytotoxic liposomes to latency-reversed HIV-1-infected cells.
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18
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Evgin L, Huff AL, Kottke T, Thompson J, Molan AM, Driscoll CB, Schuelke M, Shim KG, Wongthida P, Ilett EJ, Smith KK, Harris RS, Coffey M, Pulido JS, Pandha H, Selby PJ, Harrington KJ, Melcher A, Vile RG. Suboptimal T-cell Therapy Drives a Tumor Cell Mutator Phenotype That Promotes Escape from First-Line Treatment. Cancer Immunol Res 2019; 7:828-840. [PMID: 30940643 PMCID: PMC7003288 DOI: 10.1158/2326-6066.cir-18-0013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2018] [Revised: 05/14/2018] [Accepted: 03/27/2019] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Antitumor T-cell responses raised by first-line therapies such as chemotherapy, radiation, tumor cell vaccines, and viroimmunotherapy tend to be weak, both quantitatively (low frequency) and qualitatively (low affinity). We show here that T cells that recognize tumor-associated antigens can directly kill tumor cells if used at high effector-to-target ratios. However, when these tumor-reactive T cells were present at suboptimal ratios, direct T-cell-mediated tumor cell killing was reduced and the ability of tumor cells to evolve away from a coapplied therapy (oncolytic or suicide gene therapy) was promoted. This T-cell-mediated increase in therapeutic resistance was associated with C to T transition mutations that are characteristic of APOBEC3 cytosine deaminase activity and was induced through a TNFα and protein kinase C-dependent pathway. Short hairpin RNA inhibition of endogenous APOBEC3 reduced rates of tumor escape from oncolytic virus or suicide gene therapy to those seen in the absence of antitumor T-cell coculture. Conversely, overexpression of human APOBEC3B in tumor cells enhanced escape from suicide gene therapy and oncolytic virus therapy both in vitro and in vivo Our data suggest that weak affinity or low frequency T-cell responses against tumor antigens may contribute to the ability of tumor cells to evolve away from first-line therapies. We conclude that immunotherapies need to be optimized as early as possible so that, if they do not kill the tumor completely, they do not promote treatment resistance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Evgin
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
| | - Amanda L Huff
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
| | - Timothy Kottke
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
| | - Jill Thompson
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
| | - Amy M Molan
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Institute for Molecular Virology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
| | | | | | - Kevin G Shim
- Department of Immunology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
| | | | - Elizabeth J Ilett
- Leeds Institute of Cancer and Pathology, St. James' University Hospital, Leeds, United Kingdom
| | | | - Reuben S Harris
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Institute for Molecular Virology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
| | - Matt Coffey
- Oncolytics Biotech Incorporated, Calgary, Canada
| | - Jose S Pulido
- Department of Ophthalmology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
| | - Hardev Pandha
- Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom
| | - Peter J Selby
- Leeds Institute of Cancer and Pathology, St. James' University Hospital, Leeds, United Kingdom
| | | | - Alan Melcher
- Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
| | - Richard G Vile
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota.
- Department of Immunology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
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19
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Gwak SJ, Lee JS. Suicide Gene Therapy By Amphiphilic Copolymer Nanocarrier for Spinal Cord Tumor. Nanomaterials (Basel) 2019; 9:E573. [PMID: 30965667 DOI: 10.3390/nano9040573] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2019] [Revised: 03/30/2019] [Accepted: 03/30/2019] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Spinal cord tumors (SCT) are uncommon neoplasms characterized by irregular growth of tissue inside the spinal cord that can result in non-mechanical back pain. Current treatments for SCT include surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy, but these conventional therapies have many limitations. Suicide gene therapy using plasmid encoding herpes simplex virus-thymidine kinase (pHSV-TK) and ganciclovir (GCV) has been an alternative approach to overcome the limitations of current therapies. However, there is a need to develop a carrier that can deliver both pHSV-TK and GCV for improving therapeutic efficacy. Our group developed a cationic, amphiphilic copolymer, poly (lactide-co-glycolide) -graft-polyethylenimine (PgP), and demonstrated its efficacy as a drug and gene carrier in both cell culture studies and animal models. In this study, we evaluated PgP as a gene carrier and demonstrate that PgP can efficiently deliver reporter genes, pGFP in rat glioma (C6) cells in vitro, and pβ-gal in a rat T5 SCT model in vivo. We also show that PgP/pHSV-TK with GCV treatment showed significantly higher anticancer activity in C6 cells compared to PgP/pHSV-TK without GCV treatment. Finally, we demonstrate that PgP/pHSV-TK with GCV treatment increases the suicide effect and apoptosis of tumor cells and reduces tumor size in a rat T5 SCT model.
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20
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Mohseni-Dargah M, Akbari-Birgani S, Madadi Z, Saghatchi F, Kaboudin B. Carbon nanotube-delivered iC9 suicide gene therapy for killing breast cancer cells in vitro. Nanomedicine (Lond) 2019; 14:1033-1047. [PMID: 30925115 DOI: 10.2217/nnm-2018-0342] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
AIM To induce a safe death to MCF-7 human breast cancer cell line through gene therapy based on iC9 suicide gene. MATERIALS & METHODS To induce apoptosis to MCF-7 cell line, iC9 gene was transfected using pyridine-functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes. Then, to enhance chemotherapy, iC9 suicide gene therapy was performed alongside. RESULTS The results show that the MCF-7 cells were efficiently eliminated in a high percentage by this approach. Furthermore, the suicide gene by itself/in combination with the chemotherapeutic drugs managed to pass the cell cycle arrests. CONCLUSION We introduced an in vitro treatment approach based on suicide gene therapy and the first step was taken toward the enhancement of chemotherapy, although more investigation is required.
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Affiliation(s)
- Masoud Mohseni-Dargah
- Department of Biological Sciences, Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences (IASBS), Zanjan 45137-66731, Iran
| | - Shiva Akbari-Birgani
- Department of Biological Sciences, Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences (IASBS), Zanjan 45137-66731, Iran.,Center for Research in Basic Sciences, & Contemporary Technologies (IASBS), Zanjan, Iran
| | - Zahra Madadi
- Department of Biological Sciences, Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences (IASBS), Zanjan 45137-66731, Iran
| | - Fatemeh Saghatchi
- Department of Chemistry, Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences (IASBS), Zanjan 45137-66731, Iran
| | - Babak Kaboudin
- Center for Research in Basic Sciences, & Contemporary Technologies (IASBS), Zanjan, Iran.,Department of Chemistry, Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences (IASBS), Zanjan 45137-66731, Iran
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21
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Raza A, Ghosh SS. Connexin-43 Enhances the Redesigned Cytosine Deaminase Activity for Suicide Gene Therapy in Human Breast Cancer Cells. Biochem Insights 2019; 12:1178626418818182. [PMID: 30733628 PMCID: PMC6343436 DOI: 10.1177/1178626418818182] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2018] [Accepted: 11/09/2018] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Background: Escherichia coli cytosine deaminase (CD) converts 5-fluorocytosine (5-FC), a prodrug, into 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), a chemotherapeutic drug. However, the poor binding affinity of CD towards 5-FC as compared to the natural substrate cytosine, limits its application towards a successful suicide gene therapy. Although F186W mutant was developed to enhance the effect of wild-type CD, still scope for its improvement remains to further minimize the dose-dependent cytotoxicity of the drugs. Hence, in this study, we employ the anti-tumour attribute of the gap junction forming protein connexin-43 (Cx43) in conjunction with CD or F186W mutant. Methods: Lipofectamine was used to co-transfect CD/F186W-pVITRO2 and Cx43-pEGFP-N1 plasmids construct into MCF-7 cells. Comparative analysis of cell viability was observed using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium-bromide (MTT) and trypan blue–based assays. To further confirm the mode of cell death was apoptosis, propidium iodide and annexin V/7-aminoactinomycin D (7-AAD)-based apoptosis assays were performed. Results: Semi-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) confirmed the expression of both Cx43 and CD/F186W genes after transfection. Furthermore, cell viability assays revealed the enhanced activity of F186W-Cx43 compared with CD-Cx43 and F186W alone. The trend of the reduction in cell viability was also reflected in the flow cytometry–based apoptosis analyses. Overall, F186W-Cx43 combination demonstrated its superiority over the CD-Cx43 and F186W mutant alone. Conclusions: The enhanced cytotoxic activity of F186W mutant was further amplified by gap junction protein Cx43.
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Affiliation(s)
- Asif Raza
- Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, India
| | - Siddhartha Sankar Ghosh
- Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, India.,Centre for Nanotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, India
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22
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Düzgüneş N, Cheung J, Konopka K. Non-viral suicide gene therapy in cervical, oral and pharyngeal carcinoma cells with CMV- and EEV-plasmids. J Gene Med 2018; 20:e3054. [PMID: 30172246 DOI: 10.1002/jgm.3054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2018] [Accepted: 08/28/2018] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Cervical cancer is the third most common cause of cancer in women. The 5-year survival rate in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas is approximately 50% and this rate has not improved in recent decades. These cancers are accessible to direct intervention. We examined the ability of a highly efficient non-viral vector, TransfeX (ATCC, Manassas, VA, USA), to deliver the suicide gene HSV-tk to cervical, oral and pharyngeal cancer cells and to induce cytotoxicity following the administration of the prodrug, ganciclovir. METHODS HeLa cervical carcinoma, HSC-3 and H357 oral squamous cell carcinoma and FaDu pharyngeal carcinoma cells were transfected with cytomegalovirus (CMV)- or enhanced episomal vector (EEV)-driven HSV-tk plasmids and treated with ganciclovir for 24-120 h. Cell viability was assessed by Alamar blue. RESULTS The viability of HeLa cells was reduced to only 30-40%, despite the very high levels of transgene expression. By contrast, the viability of HSC-3 cells was reduced to 10%, although transgene expression was 18-fold lower than that in HeLa cells. An approximately five-fold higher transgene expression was obtained with the EEV-plasmid than from the CMV-plasmid. Nevertheless, HeLa cell viability after suicide gene + ganciclovir treatment was reduced by only 35% compared to 70% with the CMV-plasmid. For HSC-3 cells, the reduction was 40% for the EEV- and 80% for the CMV-plasmid. The lower efficiency of transfection with the EEV-plasmid may explain the lower cytotoxicity. CONCLUSIONS TransfeX-mediated gene delivery to cervical, pharyngeal and oral cancer cells may be used for suicide gene therapy. The levels of transgene expression, however, do not translate directly to cytotoxicity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nejat Düzgüneş
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry, University of the Pacific, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Jennifer Cheung
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry, University of the Pacific, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Krystyna Konopka
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry, University of the Pacific, San Francisco, CA, USA
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23
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Sato T, Nakata M, Yang Z, Torizuka Y, Kishimoto S, Ishihara M. In vitro and in vivo gene delivery using chitosan/hyaluronic acid nanoparticles: Influences of molecular mass of hyaluronic acid and lyophilization on transfection efficiency. J Gene Med 2018; 19. [PMID: 28667693 DOI: 10.1002/jgm.2968] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2017] [Accepted: 06/27/2017] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Lyophilization is an effective method for preserving nonviral gene vectors. To improve the stability and transgene expression of lyophilized plasmid DNA (pDNA) complexes, we coated the surfaces of pDNA/chitosan complexes with hyaluronic acid (HA) of varying molecular masses. The transgene expression of pDNA/chitosan/HA ternary complexes was characterized in vitro and in vivo. METHODS pDNA complexes were lyophilized overnight and the resultant products with spongy, porous consistencies were stored at -30, 4 or 25°C for 2 weeks. Rehydrated complexes were characterized using gel retardation assays, aiming to confirm complex formation, measure particle size and evaluate zeta potential, as well as conduct luciferase gene reporter assays. The anti-tumor effects of pDNA ternary complexes were evaluated using suicide gene (pTK) coding thymidine kinase in Huh7-implanted mice. RESULTS Transfection efficiencies of pDNA/chitosan/HA ternary complexes were dependent on the average molecular masses of HA. The coating of pDNA/chitosan complexes with HA maintained the cellular transfection efficiencies of lyophilized pDNA ternary complexes. Furthermore, intratumoral injection of lyophilized, rehydrated pDNA ternary complexes into tumor-bearing mice showed a significant suppression of tumor growth. CONCLUSIONS The coating of pDNA/chitosan complexes with high-molecular-weight HA augmented the stability and cellular transfection ability of the complexes after lyophilization-rehydration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Toshinori Sato
- Department of Biosciences and Informatics, Keio University, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Mitsuhiro Nakata
- Department of Biosciences and Informatics, Keio University, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Zhihong Yang
- Department of Biosciences and Informatics, Keio University, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Yu Torizuka
- Department of Biosciences and Informatics, Keio University, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Satoko Kishimoto
- Research Support Center, Dokkyo Medical University, Shimotsuga, Tochigi, Japan
| | - Masayuki Ishihara
- Research Institute, National Defense Medical College, Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan
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24
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Kalimuthu S, Zhu L, Oh JM, Lee HW, Gangadaran P, Rajendran RL, Baek SH, Jeon YH, Jeong SY, Lee SW, Lee J, Ahn BC. Regulated Mesenchymal Stem Cells Mediated Colon Cancer Therapy Assessed by Reporter Gene Based Optical Imaging. Int J Mol Sci. 2018;19. [PMID: 29584688 PMCID: PMC5979455 DOI: 10.3390/ijms19041002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2018] [Revised: 03/24/2018] [Accepted: 03/25/2018] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Colorectal cancer is the most common cancer in both men and women and the second most common cause of cancer-related deaths. Suicide gene-based therapy with suicide gene-transduced mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is a promising therapeutic strategy. A tetracycline-controlled Tet-On inducible system used to regulate gene expression may be a useful tool for gene-based therapies. The aim of this study was to develop therapeutic MSCs with a suicide gene that is induced by an artificial stimulus, to validate therapeutic gene expression, and to monitor the MSC therapy for colon cancer using optical molecular imaging. For our study, we designed the Tet-On system using a retroviral vector and developed a response plasmid RetroX-TRE (tetracycline response element) expressing a mutant form of herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV1-sr39TK) with dual reporters (eGFP-Fluc2). Bone marrow-derived MSCs were transduced using a RetroX-Tet3G (Clontech, CA, USA) regulatory plasmid and RetroX-TRE-HSV1-sr39TK-eGFP-IRES-Fluc2, for a system with a Tet-On (MSC-Tet-TK/Fluc2 or MSC-Tet-TK) or without a Tet-On (MSC-TK/Fluc2 or MSC-TK) function. Suicide gene engineered MSCs were co-cultured with colon cancer cells (CT26/Rluc) in the presence of the prodrug ganciclovir (GCV) after stimulation with or without doxycycline (DOX). Treatment efficiency was monitored by assessing Rluc (CT26/Rluc) and Fluc (MSC-Tet-TK and MSC-TK) activity using optical imaging. The bystander effect of therapeutic MSCs was confirmed in CT26/Rluc cells after GCV treatment. Rluc activity in CT26/Rluc cells decreased significantly with GCV treatment of DOX(+) cells (p < 0.05 and 0.01) whereas no significant changes were observed in DOX(-) cells. In addition, Fluc activity in also decreased significantly with DOX(+) MSC-Tet-TK cells, but no signal was observed in DOX(-) cells. In addition, an MSC-TK bystander effect was also confirmed. We assessed therapy with this system in a colon cancer xenograft model (CT26/Rluc). We successfully transduced cells and developed a Tet-On system with the suicide gene HSV1-sr39TK. Our results confirmed the therapeutic efficiency of a suicide gene with the Tet-On system for colon cancer. In addition, our results provide an innovative therapeutic approach using the Tet-On system to eradicate tumors by administration of MSC-Tet-TK cells with DOX and GCV.
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25
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Jin Y, Gao J, Weng Q, Xiong F, Gu S, Shivaram G, Zhang F, Yang X. Cholangiocarcinoma: molecular imaging-guided radiofrequency hyperthermia-enhanced intratumoral herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase gene therapy. Am J Cancer Res 2018; 8:502-513. [PMID: 29637004 PMCID: PMC5883099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2017] [Accepted: 10/19/2017] [Indexed: 06/08/2023] Open
Abstract
We investigated the feasibility of using radiofrequency hyperthermia (RFH) to enhance green fluorescent protein (GFP)/herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-TK)/ganciclovir (GCV) gene therapy of cholangiocarcinoma. Cholangiocarcinoma cells and mice with cholangiocarcinoma were treated by (i) GFP/HSV-TK/plasmid combined with RFH at 42°C, followed by ganciclovir administration; (ii) HSV-TK alone; (iii) RFH alone; and (iv) saline. The therapeutic effects among different treatments were evaluated by bioluminescent optical imaging and ultrasound imaging. For the technical validation, GFP/HSV-TK/plasmid was intrabiliarily injected into pig common bile duct (CBD) walls using a needle-integrated balloon catheter with or without RFH enhancement. GFP gene expression was evaluated by optical imaging, which was correlated with histology. The results show that combination therapy of HSV-TK plus RFH significantly induced lower cell viabilities and decreased bioluminescence signals compared the other three groups, which were further confirmed by the tumor volume decrease with combination therapy, as measured by ultrasound imaging. Optical imaging of CBD tissues demonstrated an increased GFP expression in the group with RFH enhancement, compared that with non-RFH treatment. We concluded that intratumoral RFH can enhance the therapeutic effect of GFP/HSV-TK/plasmid on cholangiocarcinoma, which may open new avenues for effective treatment of this deadly disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yin Jin
- Department of Radiology, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of MedicineHangzhou, Zhejiang, China
- Image-Guided Bio-Molecular Intervention Research, Department of Radiology, University of Washington School of MedicineSeattle, Washington, USA
| | - Jun Gao
- Image-Guided Bio-Molecular Intervention Research, Department of Radiology, University of Washington School of MedicineSeattle, Washington, USA
| | - Qiaoyou Weng
- Image-Guided Bio-Molecular Intervention Research, Department of Radiology, University of Washington School of MedicineSeattle, Washington, USA
| | - Fu Xiong
- Image-Guided Bio-Molecular Intervention Research, Department of Radiology, University of Washington School of MedicineSeattle, Washington, USA
| | - Shannon Gu
- Image-Guided Bio-Molecular Intervention Research, Department of Radiology, University of Washington School of MedicineSeattle, Washington, USA
| | - Giri Shivaram
- Image-Guided Bio-Molecular Intervention Research, Department of Radiology, University of Washington School of MedicineSeattle, Washington, USA
| | - Feng Zhang
- Image-Guided Bio-Molecular Intervention Research, Department of Radiology, University of Washington School of MedicineSeattle, Washington, USA
| | - Xiaoming Yang
- Department of Radiology, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of MedicineHangzhou, Zhejiang, China
- Image-Guided Bio-Molecular Intervention Research, Department of Radiology, University of Washington School of MedicineSeattle, Washington, USA
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Poddar S, Loh PS, Ooi ZH, Osman F, Eul J, Patzel V. RNA Structure Design Improves Activity and Specificity of trans-Splicing-Triggered Cell Death in a Suicide Gene Therapy Approach. Mol Ther Nucleic Acids 2018; 11:41-56. [PMID: 29858076 PMCID: PMC5849863 DOI: 10.1016/j.omtn.2018.01.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2017] [Revised: 01/17/2018] [Accepted: 01/17/2018] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Abstract
Spliceosome-mediated RNA trans-splicing enables correction or labeling of pre-mRNA, but therapeutic applications are hampered by issues related to the activity and target specificity of trans-splicing RNA (tsRNA). We employed computational RNA structure design to improve both on-target activity and specificity of tsRNA in a herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase/ganciclovir suicide gene therapy approach targeting alpha fetoprotein (AFP), a marker of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) pre-mRNA. While unstructured, mismatched target binding domains significantly improved 3′ exon replacement (3’ER), 5′ exon replacement (5’ER) correlated with the thermodynamic stability of the tsRNA 3′ end. Alternative on-target trans-splicing was found to be a prevalent event. The specificity of trans-splicing with the intended target splice site was improved 10-fold by designing tsRNA that harbors secondary target binding domains shielding alternative on-target and blinding off-target splicing events. Such rationally designed suicide RNAs efficiently triggered death of HPV-16-transduced or hepatoblastoma-derived human tissue culture cells without evidence for off-target cell killing. Highest cell death activities were observed with novel dual-targeting tsRNAs programmed for trans-splicing toward AFP and a second HCC pre-mRNA biomarker. Our observations suggest trans-splicing represents a promising approach to suicide gene therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sushmita Poddar
- Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Block MD4, Level 5, 5 Science Drive 2, Singapore 117597, Singapore
| | - Pei She Loh
- Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Block MD4, Level 5, 5 Science Drive 2, Singapore 117597, Singapore
| | - Zi Hao Ooi
- Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Block MD4, Level 5, 5 Science Drive 2, Singapore 117597, Singapore
| | - Farhana Osman
- Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Block MD4, Level 5, 5 Science Drive 2, Singapore 117597, Singapore
| | - Joachim Eul
- INEIDFO GmbH, Weserstrasse 23, 12045 Berlin, Germany
| | - Volker Patzel
- Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Block MD4, Level 5, 5 Science Drive 2, Singapore 117597, Singapore; Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Level 5, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 0QQ, UK.
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27
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Hossain JA, Ystaas LR, Mrdalj J, Välk K, Riecken K, Fehse B, Bjerkvig R, Grønli J, Miletic H. Lentiviral HSV-Tk.007-mediated suicide gene therapy is not toxic for normal brain cells. J Gene Med 2018; 18:234-43. [PMID: 27490042 DOI: 10.1002/jgm.2895] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2016] [Revised: 07/28/2016] [Accepted: 07/28/2016] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Gene therapeutic strategies with suicide genes are currently investigated in clinical trials for brain tumors. Previously, we have shown that lentiviral vectors delivering the suicide gene HSV-Tk to experimental brain tumors promote a highly significant treatment effect and thus are promising vectors for clinical translation. METHODS In the present study, we tested lentiviral vectors delivering the suicide gene HSV-Tk.007, a highly active mutant of HSV-Tk, to rat brains as a preclinical toxicity study. We injected 10(6) vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein (VSV-G) pseudotyped functional lentiviral particles harboring the suicide gene HSV-Tk.007 into the brain of healthy, immunocompetent rats. During prodrug treatment with ganciclovir (GCV), we measured weight and assessed the behavior of the rats in an open field test. After 14 days of GCV treatment, we analyzed HSV-Tk.007 expression in different brain cell populations, as well as inflammatory responses and apoptosis. RESULTS During prodrug treatment with GCV, behavior experiments did not reveal differences between the treated rats and the control groups. Analysis of HSV-Tk expression in different brain cell populations showed that transduced normal brain cells survived GCV treatment. There were no statistically significant differences in the number of transduced cells between treatment and control groups. Furthermore, inflammatory responses and apoptosis of brain cells were not observed. CONCLUSIONS We show that HSV-Tk.007-mediated suicide gene therapy is not toxic to normal brain cells. This observation is of high relevance for the translation of lentivirus-mediated suicide gene therapies into the clinic for the treatment of brain tumor patients. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jubayer A Hossain
- Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.,KG Jebsen Brain Tumour Research Center, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.,Department of Pathology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
| | - Lars Rømo Ystaas
- Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.,KG Jebsen Brain Tumour Research Center, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Jelena Mrdalj
- Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.,Norwegian Competence Center for Sleep Disorders, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
| | - Kristjan Välk
- Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.,KG Jebsen Brain Tumour Research Center, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Kristoffer Riecken
- Research Department Cell and Gene Therapy, Department of Stem Cell Transplantation, University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Boris Fehse
- Research Department Cell and Gene Therapy, Department of Stem Cell Transplantation, University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Rolf Bjerkvig
- Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.,KG Jebsen Brain Tumour Research Center, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.,Norlux Neuro-Oncology Laboratory, Department of Oncology, Luxembourg Institute of Health, Luxembourg
| | - Janne Grønli
- Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.,Norwegian Competence Center for Sleep Disorders, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
| | - Hrvoje Miletic
- Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway. .,KG Jebsen Brain Tumour Research Center, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway. .,Department of Pathology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway.
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Sułkowski M, Konieczny P, Chlebanowska P, Majka M. Introduction of Exogenous HSV-TK Suicide Gene Increases Safety of Keratinocyte-Derived Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells by Providing Genetic "Emergency Exit" Switch. Int J Mol Sci 2018; 19:E197. [PMID: 29315221 DOI: 10.3390/ijms19010197] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2017] [Revised: 01/03/2018] [Accepted: 01/05/2018] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Since their invention in 2006, induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) cells remain a great promise for regenerative medicine circumventing the ethical issues linked to Embryonic Stem (ES) cell research. iPS cells can be generated in a patient-specific manner as an unlimited source of various cell types for in vitro drug screening, developmental biology studies and regenerative use. Having the capacity of differentiating into the cells of all three primary germ layers, iPS cells have high potential to form teratoma tumors. This remains their main disadvantage and hazard which, until resolved, prevents utilization of iPS cells in clinic. Here, we present an approach for increasing iPS cells safety by introducing genetic modification—exogenous suicide gene Herpes Simplex Virus Thymidine Kinase (HSV-TK). Its expression results in specific vulnerability of genetically modified cells to prodrug—ganciclovir (GCV). We show that HSV-TK expressing cells can be eradicated both in vitro and in vivo with high specificity and efficiency with low doses of GCV. Described strategy increases iPS cells safety for future clinical applications by generating “emergency exit” switch allowing eradication of transplanted cells in case of their malfunction.
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Kim SJ, Kim JH, Yang B, Jeong JS, Lee SW. Specific and Efficient Regression of Cancers Harboring KRAS Mutation by Targeted RNA Replacement. Mol Ther 2017; 25:356-367. [PMID: 28153088 DOI: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2016.11.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2016] [Revised: 11/01/2016] [Accepted: 11/11/2016] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Mutations in the KRAS gene, which persistently activate RAS function, are most frequently found in many types of human cancers. Here, we proposed and verified a new approach against cancers harboring the KRAS mutation with high cancer selectivity and efficient anti-cancer effects based on targeted RNA replacement. To this end, trans-splicing ribozymes from Tetrahymena group I intron were developed, which can specifically target and reprogram the mutant KRAS G12V transcript to induce therapeutic gene activity in cells. Adenoviral vectors containing the specific ribozymes with downstream suicide gene were constructed and then infection with the adenoviruses specifically downregulated KRAS G12V expression and killed KRAS G12V-harboring cancer cells additively upon pro-drug treatment, but it did not affect the growth of wild-type KRAS-expressing cells. Minimal liver toxicity was noted when the adenoviruses were administered systemically in vivo. Importantly, intratumoral injection of the adenoviruses with pro-drug treatment specifically and significantly impeded the growth of xenografted tumors harboring KRAS G12V through a trans-splicing reaction with the target RNA. In contrast, xenografted tumors harboring wild-type KRAS were not affected by the adenoviruses. Therefore, RNA replacement with a mutant KRAS-targeting trans-splicing ribozyme is a potentially useful therapeutic strategy to combat tumors harboring KRAS mutation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sung Jin Kim
- Department of Integrated Life Sciences, Research Institute of Advanced Omics, Dankook University, Yongin 16890, Republic of Korea
| | - Ju Hyun Kim
- Department of Integrated Life Sciences, Research Institute of Advanced Omics, Dankook University, Yongin 16890, Republic of Korea
| | - Bitna Yang
- Department of Integrated Life Sciences, Research Institute of Advanced Omics, Dankook University, Yongin 16890, Republic of Korea
| | - Jin-Sook Jeong
- Department of Pathology and Immune-network Pioneer Research Center, Dong-A University College of Medicine, Busan 49202, Republic of Korea
| | - Seong-Wook Lee
- Department of Integrated Life Sciences, Research Institute of Advanced Omics, Dankook University, Yongin 16890, Republic of Korea.
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Orozco Rodriguez JM, Nesrini M, Christiansen LS, Knecht W. Expression of tomato thymidine kinase 1 by means of the baculovirus expression vector system. Nucleosides Nucleotides Nucleic Acids 2017; 35:691-698. [PMID: 27906616 DOI: 10.1080/15257770.2016.1139126] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Tomato thymidine kinase 1 (ToTK1) is a deoxyribonucleoside kinase (dNK) that has been subject to study because of its potential to phosphorylate the nucleoside analogue 3-azido-2,3-dideoxythymidine (azidothymidine, AZT) equally well as its natural substrate thymidine (dThd). The combination of ToTK1 and AZT has been tested in two animal studies for its efficiency and use in suicide gene therapy for malignant glioma. The determination of the 3D structure of ToTK1 might shed light on the structure-function relationships of nucleoside activation by this enzyme and thereby show routes toward further improvement of ToTK1 and other TK1-like dNKs for suicide gene therapy. Here we report the successful expression of both full-length ToTK1 and a C-terminal truncated ToTK1 in Spodoptera frugiperda and Trichoplusia ni insect cells using the baculovirus expression vector system. This constitutes a further step on the road to determine the 3D structure of the first TK1 of plant origin, but also an enzyme with great potential for dNK-mediated suicide gene therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Mohamad Nesrini
- a Department of Biology and Lund Protein Production Platform , Lund University , Lund , Sweden
| | | | - Wolfgang Knecht
- a Department of Biology and Lund Protein Production Platform , Lund University , Lund , Sweden
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Abstract
The use of enzyme/prodrug system has gained attention because it could help improve the efficacy and safety of conventional cancer chemotherapies. In this approach, cancer cells are first transfected with a gene that can express an enzyme with ability to convert a non-toxic prodrug into its active cytotoxic form. As a result, the activated prodrug could kill the transfected cancer cells. Despite the significant progress of different suicide gene therapy protocols in preclinical studies and early clinical trials, none has reached the clinic due to several shortcomings. These include slow prodrug-drug conversion rate, low transfection/transduction efficiency of the vectors and nonspecific toxicity/immunogenicity related to the delivery systems, plasmid DNA, enzymes and/or prodrugs. This mini review aims at providing an overview of the most widely used enzyme/prodrug systems with emphasis on reporting the results of the recent preclinical and clinical studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Obeid M Malekshah
- Department of Pharmaceutics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854, United States
| | - Xuguang Chen
- Department of Pharmaceutics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854, United States
| | - Alireza Nomani
- Department of Pharmaceutics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854, United States
| | - Siddik Sarkar
- Department of Pharmaceutics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854, United States
| | - Arash Hatefi
- Department of Pharmaceutics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854, United States; Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 08903, United States
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Niess H, Thomas MN, Schiergens TS, Kleespies A, Jauch KW, Bruns C, Werner J, Nelson PJ, Angele MK. Genetic engineering of mesenchymal stromal cells for cancer therapy: turning partners in crime into Trojan horses. Innov Surg Sci 2016; 1:19-32. [PMID: 31579715 PMCID: PMC6753982 DOI: 10.1515/iss-2016-0005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [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: 05/10/2016] [Accepted: 08/03/2016] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are adult progenitor cells with a high migratory and differentiation potential, which influence a broad range of biological functions in almost every tissue of the body. Among other mechanisms, MSCs do so by the secretion of molecular cues, differentiation toward more specialized cell types, or influence on the immune system. Expanding tumors also depend on the contribution of MSCs to building a supporting stroma, but the effects of MSCs appear to go beyond the mere supply of connective tissues. MSCs show targeted "homing" toward growing tumors, which is then followed by exerting direct and indirect effects on cancer cells. Several research groups have developed novel strategies that make use of the tumor tropism of MSCs by engineering them to express a transgene that enables an attack on cancer growth. This review aims to familiarize the reader with the current knowledge about MSC biology, the existing evidence for MSC contribution to tumor growth with its underlying mechanisms, and the strategies that have been developed using MSCs to deploy an anticancer therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hanno Niess
- Department of General, Visceral, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery, Hospital of the University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Michael N Thomas
- Department of General, Visceral, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery, Hospital of the University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Tobias S Schiergens
- Department of General, Visceral, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery, Hospital of the University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Axel Kleespies
- Department of General, Visceral, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery, Hospital of the University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Karl-Walter Jauch
- Department of General, Visceral, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery, Hospital of the University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Christiane Bruns
- Department of General, Visceral and Cancer Surgery, Hospital of the University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Jens Werner
- Department of General, Visceral, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery, Hospital of the University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Peter J Nelson
- Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik IV, Campus Innenstadt, Klinikum der Universitaet Muenchen, Arbeitsgruppe Klinische Biochemie, Munich, Germany
| | - Martin K Angele
- Department of General, Visceral, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery, Hospital of the University of Munich, Munich, Germany
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Abstract
INTRODUCTION Cancer is considered the second leading cause of death worldwide despite the progress made in early detection and advances in classical therapies. Advancing in the fight against cancer requires the development of novel strategies, and the suicide gene transfer to tumor cells is providing new possibilities for cancer therapy. AREAS COVERED In this manuscript, authors present an overview of suicide gene systems and the latest innovations done to enhance cancer suicide gene therapy strategies by i) improving vectors for targeted gene delivery using tissue specific promoter and receptors; ii) modification of the tropism; and iii) combining suicide genes and/or classical therapies for cancer. Finally, the authors highlight the main challenges to be addressed in the future. EXPERT OPINION Even if many efforts are needed for suicide gene therapy to be a real alternative for cancer treatment, we believe that the significant progress made in the knowledge of cancer biology and characterization of cancer stem cells accompanied by the development of novel targeted vectors will enhance the effectiveness of this type of therapeutic strategy. Moreover, combined with current treatments, suicide gene therapy will improve the clinical outcome of patients with cancer in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saúl Abenhamar Navarro
- a Biopathology and Regenerative Medicine Institute (IBIMER), Centre for Biomedical Research , University of Granada , Granada , Spain
| | - Esmeralda Carrillo
- a Biopathology and Regenerative Medicine Institute (IBIMER), Centre for Biomedical Research , University of Granada , Granada , Spain.,b Department of Human Anatomy and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine , University of Granada , Granada , Spain.,c Biosanitary Institute of Granada (ibs.GRANADA) , University Hospitals of Granada-Univesity of Granada , Granada , Spain
| | - Carmen Griñán-Lisón
- a Biopathology and Regenerative Medicine Institute (IBIMER), Centre for Biomedical Research , University of Granada , Granada , Spain
| | - Ana Martín
- a Biopathology and Regenerative Medicine Institute (IBIMER), Centre for Biomedical Research , University of Granada , Granada , Spain
| | - Macarena Perán
- d Department of Health Sciences , University of Jaén , Jaén , Spain
| | - Juan Antonio Marchal
- a Biopathology and Regenerative Medicine Institute (IBIMER), Centre for Biomedical Research , University of Granada , Granada , Spain.,b Department of Human Anatomy and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine , University of Granada , Granada , Spain.,c Biosanitary Institute of Granada (ibs.GRANADA) , University Hospitals of Granada-Univesity of Granada , Granada , Spain
| | - Houria Boulaiz
- a Biopathology and Regenerative Medicine Institute (IBIMER), Centre for Biomedical Research , University of Granada , Granada , Spain.,b Department of Human Anatomy and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine , University of Granada , Granada , Spain.,c Biosanitary Institute of Granada (ibs.GRANADA) , University Hospitals of Granada-Univesity of Granada , Granada , Spain
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Raza A, Kohila V, Ghosh SS. Redesigned Escherichia coli cytosine deaminase: a new facet of suicide gene therapy. J Gene Med 2016; 17:132-9. [PMID: 25982931 DOI: 10.1002/jgm.2831] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2015] [Accepted: 05/12/2015] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The Escherichia coli cytosine deaminase (CD)/5-fluorocytosine (5-FC) approach emerges as a potential aid for suicide gene therapy in the field of modern cancer treatment. However, the poor binding affinity of CD towards 5-FC compared to the natural substrate cytosine limits its application for successful suicide gene therapy. Redesigning a bacterial mutant CD with site-directed mutagenesis showed higher potency compare to wild-type CD (wtCD) in vitro. In the present study, we conducted a comparative analysis of F186W mutant and wtCD in a human lung cancer cell line (A549). METHODS AND RESULTS A comparative investigation was initiated with cell viability analyses by MTT and trypan blue dye exclusion assays on A549 cells transfected with wtCD and F186W genes. The mode of cell death was confirmed by acridine Orange/ethidium Bromide dual staining. Furthermore, flow cytometric assessments were performed by cell cycle analysis and caspase 3 assay. The experimental results showed a drug dependent decrease in cell viability; interestingly, mutant (F186W) reached IC50 at a much lower concentration of prodrug (5-FC) than wtCD. Cell cycle analysis showed that G1 arrest of a larger population of 5-FC treated F186W transfected cells, in contrast to that of wtCD under similar conditions. The caspase 3 assay revealed progression and execution of apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS We report a novel bacterial CD mutant that provided a superior alternate to the wtCD suicide gene. The F186W mutant required a much lower dose of 5-FC to reach its IC50 , thus minimizing the systemic side effects of large doses of 5-FC as required for wtCD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Asif Raza
- Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, Assam, India
| | - V Kohila
- Department of Biotechnology, National Institute of Technology, Warangal, India
| | - Siddhartha Sankar Ghosh
- Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, Assam, India.,Centre for Nanotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, Assam, India
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Fend L, Remy-Ziller C, Foloppe J, Kempf J, Cochin S, Barraud L, Accart N, Erbs P, Fournel S, Préville X. Oncolytic virotherapy with an armed vaccinia virus in an orthotopic model of renal carcinoma is associated with modification of the tumor microenvironment. Oncoimmunology 2015; 5:e1080414. [PMID: 27057460 PMCID: PMC4801465 DOI: 10.1080/2162402x.2015.1080414] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [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: 01/20/2015] [Revised: 07/31/2015] [Accepted: 07/31/2015] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Oncolytic virotherapy is an emergent promising therapeutic approach for the treatment of cancer. We have constructed a vaccinia virus (WR strain) deleted for thymidine kinase (TK) and ribonucleotide reductase (RR) genes that expressed the fusion suicide gene FCU1 derived from the yeast cytosine deaminase and uracil phosphoribosyltransferase genes. We evaluated this construct (VV-FCU1) in the orthotopic model of renal carcinoma (RenCa). Systemic administration of VV-FCU1 resulted in orthotopic tumor growth inhibition, despite temporary expression of viral proteins. VV-FCU1 treatment was associated with an infiltration of tumors by CD8+ T lymphocytes and a decrease in the proportion of infiltrating Tregs, thus modifying the ratio of CD8+/CD4+ Treg in favor of CD8+cytotoxic T cells. We demonstrated that VV-FCU1 treatment prolonged survival of animals implanted with RenCa cells in kidney. Depletion of CD8+ T cells abolished the therapeutic effect of VV-FCU1 while depletion of CD4+ T cells enhanced its protective activity. Administration of the prodrug 5-fluorocytosine (5-FC) resulted in a sustained control of tumor growth but did not extend survival. This study shows the importance of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in vaccinia virus-mediated oncolytic virotherapy and suggests that this approach may be evaluated for the treatment of human renal cell carcinoma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laetitia Fend
- Transgene S.A., 400 boulevard Gonthier d'Andernach, Parc d'innovation, CS80166, Illkirch-Graffenstaden Cedex, France and Institut Gustave Roussy, Unité INSERM 1015 114 rue Edouard-Vaillant , 94805 Villejuif Cedex, France
| | - Christelle Remy-Ziller
- Transgene S.A., 400 boulevard Gonthier d'Andernach, Parc d'innovation, CS80166, Illkirch-Graffenstaden Cedex, France and Institut Gustave Roussy, Unité INSERM 1015 114 rue Edouard-Vaillant , 94805 Villejuif Cedex, France
| | - Johann Foloppe
- Transgene S.A., 400 boulevard Gonthier d'Andernach, Parc d'innovation, CS80166, Illkirch-Graffenstaden Cedex, France and Institut Gustave Roussy, Unité INSERM 1015 114 rue Edouard-Vaillant , 94805 Villejuif Cedex, France
| | - Juliette Kempf
- Transgene S.A., 400 boulevard Gonthier d'Andernach, Parc d'innovation, CS80166, Illkirch-Graffenstaden Cedex, France and Institut Gustave Roussy, Unité INSERM 1015 114 rue Edouard-Vaillant , 94805 Villejuif Cedex, France
| | - Sandrine Cochin
- Transgene S.A., 400 boulevard Gonthier d'Andernach, Parc d'innovation, CS80166, Illkirch-Graffenstaden Cedex, France and Institut Gustave Roussy, Unité INSERM 1015 114 rue Edouard-Vaillant , 94805 Villejuif Cedex, France
| | - Luc Barraud
- Transgene S.A., 400 boulevard Gonthier d'Andernach, Parc d'innovation, CS80166, Illkirch-Graffenstaden Cedex, France and Institut Gustave Roussy, Unité INSERM 1015 114 rue Edouard-Vaillant , 94805 Villejuif Cedex, France
| | - Nathalie Accart
- Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, Analytical Sciences and Imaging , WSJ386, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Philippe Erbs
- Transgene S.A., 400 boulevard Gonthier d'Andernach, Parc d'innovation, CS80166, Illkirch-Graffenstaden Cedex, France and Institut Gustave Roussy, Unité INSERM 1015 114 rue Edouard-Vaillant , 94805 Villejuif Cedex, France
| | - Sylvie Fournel
- Laboratoire de Conception et Application de Molécules Bioactives, Equipe de Biovectorologie, UMR 7199 CNRS-Université de Strasbourg, Faculté de Pharmacie , 74 Route du Rhin- BP60024 , Illkirch-Graffenstaden Cedex, France
| | - Xavier Préville
- Transgene S.A., 400 boulevard Gonthier d'Andernach, Parc d'innovation, CS80166, Illkirch-Graffenstaden Cedex, France and Institut Gustave Roussy, Unité INSERM 1015 114 rue Edouard-Vaillant , 94805 Villejuif Cedex, France
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Bole-Richard E, Deschamps M, Ferrand C, Robinet E. Editorial: Improving the safety of cell therapy products by suicide gene transfer. Front Pharmacol 2015; 6:174. [PMID: 26379549 PMCID: PMC4548201 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2015.00174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2015] [Accepted: 08/03/2015] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Elodie Bole-Richard
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale UMR 1098, Etablissement Français du Sang Bourgogne/Franche-Comté Besançon, France ; SFR FRD 4234 Ingénierie et Biologie Cellulaire et Tissulaire, Université de Franche-Comté Besançon, France
| | - Marina Deschamps
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale UMR 1098, Etablissement Français du Sang Bourgogne/Franche-Comté Besançon, France ; SFR FRD 4234 Ingénierie et Biologie Cellulaire et Tissulaire, Université de Franche-Comté Besançon, France
| | - Christophe Ferrand
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale UMR 1098, Etablissement Français du Sang Bourgogne/Franche-Comté Besançon, France ; SFR FRD 4234 Ingénierie et Biologie Cellulaire et Tissulaire, Université de Franche-Comté Besançon, France
| | - Eric Robinet
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale UMR 1110, Institut de Recherche sur les Maladies Virales et Hépatiques Strasbourg, France ; Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire de Strasbourg Strasbourg, France
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Slot Christiansen L, Egeblad L, Munch-Petersen B, Piškur J, Knecht W. New Variants of Tomato Thymidine Kinase 1 Selected for Increased Sensitivity of E. coli KY895 towards Azidothymidine. Cancers (Basel) 2015; 7:966-80. [PMID: 26061968 PMCID: PMC4491694 DOI: 10.3390/cancers7020819] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [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: 03/28/2015] [Revised: 05/19/2015] [Accepted: 05/27/2015] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Nucleoside analogues (NA) are prodrugs that are phosphorylated by deoxyribonucleoside kinases (dNKs) as the first step towards a compound toxic to the cell. During the last 20 years, research around dNKs has gone into new organisms other than mammals and viruses. Newly discovered dNKs have been tested as enzymes for suicide gene therapy. The tomato thymidine kinase 1 (ToTK1) is a dNK that has been selected for its in vitro kinetic properties and then successfully been tested in vivo for the treatment of malignant glioma. We present the selection of two improved variants of ToTK1 generated by random protein engineering for suicide gene therapy with the NA azidothymidine (AZT).We describe their selection, recombinant production and a subsequent kinetic and biochemical characterization. Their improved performance in killing of E. coli KY895 is accompanied by an increase in specificity for the NA AZT over the natural substrate thymidine as well as a decrease in inhibition by dTTP, the end product of the nucleoside salvage pathway for thymidine. The understanding of the enzymatic properties improving the variants efficacy is instrumental to further develop dNKs for use in suicide gene therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Louise Slot Christiansen
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund 22362, Sweden; E-Mail:
- Lund Protein Production Platform, Lund University, Lund 22362, Sweden; E-Mail:
| | - Louise Egeblad
- Lund Protein Production Platform, Lund University, Lund 22362, Sweden; E-Mail:
| | - Birgitte Munch-Petersen
- Department of Science, Systems and Models, Roskilde University, Roskilde 4000, Denmark; E-Mail:
| | - Jure Piškur
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund 22362, Sweden; E-Mail:
| | - Wolfgang Knecht
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund 22362, Sweden; E-Mail:
- Lund Protein Production Platform, Lund University, Lund 22362, Sweden; E-Mail:
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Rama AR, Hernandez R, Perazzoli G, Burgos M, Melguizo C, Vélez C, Prados J. Specific Colon Cancer Cell Cytotoxicity Induced by Bacteriophage E Gene Expression under Transcriptional Control of Carcinoembryonic Antigen Promoter. Int J Mol Sci 2015; 16:12601-15. [PMID: 26053394 DOI: 10.3390/ijms160612601] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2015] [Revised: 05/26/2015] [Accepted: 05/26/2015] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Colorectal cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers in the world. Patients in advanced stages often develop metastases that require chemotherapy and usually show a poor response, have a low survival rate and develop considerable toxicity with adverse symptoms. Gene therapy may act as an adjuvant therapy in attempts to destroy the tumor without affecting normal host tissue. The bacteriophage E gene has demonstrated significant antitumor activity in several cancers, but without any tumor-specific activity. The use of tumor-specific promoters may help to direct the expression of therapeutic genes so they act against specific cancer cells. We used the carcinoembryonic antigen promoter (CEA) to direct E gene expression (pCEA-E) towards colon cancer cells. pCEA-E induced a high cell growth inhibition of human HTC-116 colon adenocarcinoma and mouse MC-38 colon cancer cells in comparison to normal human CCD18co colon cells, which have practically undetectable levels of CEA. In addition, in vivo analyses of mice bearing tumors induced using MC-38 cells showed a significant decrease in tumor volume after pCEA-E treatment and a low level of Ki-67 in relation to untreated tumors. These results suggest that the CEA promoter is an excellent candidate for directing E gene expression specifically toward colon cancer cells.
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Greco R, Oliveira G, Stanghellini MTL, Vago L, Bondanza A, Peccatori J, Cieri N, Marktel S, Mastaglio S, Bordignon C, Bonini C, Ciceri F. Improving the safety of cell therapy with the TK-suicide gene. Front Pharmacol 2015; 6:95. [PMID: 25999859 PMCID: PMC4419602 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2015.00095] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.1] [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: 01/08/2015] [Accepted: 04/17/2015] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
While opening new frontiers for the cure of malignant and non-malignant diseases, the increasing use of cell therapy poses also several new challenges related to the safety of a living drug. The most effective and consolidated cell therapy approach is allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), the only cure for several patients with high-risk hematological malignancies. The potential of allogeneic HSCT is strictly dependent on the donor immune system, particularly on alloreactive T lymphocytes, that promote the beneficial graft-versus-tumor effect (GvT), but may also trigger the detrimental graft-versus-host-disease (GvHD). Gene transfer technologies allow to manipulate donor T-cells to enforce GvT and foster immune reconstitution, while avoiding or controlling GvHD. The suicide gene approach is based on the transfer of a suicide gene into donor lymphocytes, for a safe infusion of a wide T-cell repertoire, that might be selectively controlled in vivo in case of GvHD. The herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-TK) is the suicide gene most extensively tested in humans. Expression of HSV-TK in donor lymphocytes confers lethal sensitivity to the anti-herpes drug, ganciclovir. Progressive improvements in suicide genes, vector technology and transduction protocols have allowed to overcome the toxicity of GvHD while preserving the antitumor efficacy of allogeneic HSCT. Several phase I-II clinical trials in the last 20 years document the safety and the efficacy of HSV-TK approach, able to maintain its clear value over the last decades, in the rapidly progressing horizon of cancer cellular therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raffaella Greco
- Unit of Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation, Division of Regenerative Medicine, Stem Cells and Gene Therapy, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan Italy
| | - Giacomo Oliveira
- Experimental Hematology Unit, Division of Immunology, Transplantation and Infectious Diseases, Program in Immunology and Bio-immunotherapy of Cancer, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan Italy
| | - Maria Teresa Lupo Stanghellini
- Unit of Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation, Division of Regenerative Medicine, Stem Cells and Gene Therapy, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan Italy
| | - Luca Vago
- Unit of Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation, Division of Regenerative Medicine, Stem Cells and Gene Therapy, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan Italy ; Unit of Molecular and Functional Immunogenetics, Division of Regenerative Medicine, Stem Cells and Gene Therapy, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan Italy
| | - Attilio Bondanza
- Leukemia Immunotherapy Unit, Immunology, Transplantation and Infectious Diseases, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan Italy
| | - Jacopo Peccatori
- Unit of Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation, Division of Regenerative Medicine, Stem Cells and Gene Therapy, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan Italy
| | - Nicoletta Cieri
- Experimental Hematology Unit, Division of Immunology, Transplantation and Infectious Diseases, Program in Immunology and Bio-immunotherapy of Cancer, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan Italy
| | - Sarah Marktel
- Unit of Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation, Division of Regenerative Medicine, Stem Cells and Gene Therapy, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan Italy
| | - Sara Mastaglio
- Experimental Hematology Unit, Division of Immunology, Transplantation and Infectious Diseases, Program in Immunology and Bio-immunotherapy of Cancer, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan Italy
| | | | - Chiara Bonini
- Experimental Hematology Unit, Division of Immunology, Transplantation and Infectious Diseases, Program in Immunology and Bio-immunotherapy of Cancer, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan Italy
| | - Fabio Ciceri
- Unit of Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation, Division of Regenerative Medicine, Stem Cells and Gene Therapy, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan Italy
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Zarogoulidis K, Zarogoulidis P, Darwiche K, Tsakiridis K, Machairiotis N, Kougioumtzi I, Courcoutsakis N, Terzi E, Zaric B, Huang H, Freitag L, Spyratos D. Malignant pleural effusion and algorithm management. J Thorac Dis 2014; 5 Suppl 4:S413-9. [PMID: 24102015 DOI: 10.3978/j.issn.2072-1439.2013.09.04] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2013] [Accepted: 09/06/2013] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Involvement of the pleura in lung cancer is a common manifestation accompanying with reduced life expectancy. Symptoms relief and improvement of the quality of life are the primary goals of the management of malignant pleural effusion (MPE). Histological confirmation is essential for optimal patient management. Lung cancer patients, with life expectancy more than 3 months, resistant to chemotherapy should be treated with thoracentesis, intercoastal tube drainage and installation of a sclerosant agent or pleurodesis through thoracospopic procedures or placement of an indwelling pleura catheter. Talc pleurodesis (sterile asbestos-free graded, particle size >15 μm), as "poudrage" or "slurry" still remains the treatment of choice in patients with MPE resistant to chemotherapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Konstantinos Zarogoulidis
- Pulmonary Department-Oncology Unit, "G. Papanikolaou" General Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
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Sakkas A, Zarogoulidis P, Domvri K, Hohenforst-Schmidt W, Bougiouklis D, Kakolyris S, Zarampoukas T, Kioumis I, Pitsiou G, Huang H, Li Q, Meditskou S, Tsiouda T, Pezirkianidis N, Zarogoulidis K. Safety and efficacy of suicide gene therapy with adenosine deaminase 5-fluorocytosine silmutaneously in in vitro cultures of melanoma and retinal cell lines. J Cancer 2014; 5:368-81. [PMID: 24799955 PMCID: PMC4007525 DOI: 10.7150/jca.9147] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [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: 03/18/2014] [Accepted: 03/23/2014] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Local treatment as a treatment modality is gaining increased general acceptance over time. Novel drugs and methodologies of local administration are being investigated in an effort to achieve disease local control. Suicide gene therapy is a method that has been investigated as a local treatment with simultaneously distant disease control. In our current experiment we purchased HTB-70 (melanoma cell line, derived from metastatic axillary node) and CRL-2302 (human retinal epithelium) were from ATCC LGC Standards and Ancotil®, 2.5 g/250 ml (1 g/00ml) (5-Flucytosine) MEDA; Pharmaceuticals Ltd. UK. Adenosine Cytosine Deaminase (Ad.CD) was also used in order to convert the pro-drug 5-Flucytosine to the active 5-Fluoracil. Three different concentrations of 5-Flucytosine (5-FC) were administered (0.2ml, 0.8ml and 1.2ml). At indicated time-points (4h, 8h and 24h) cell viability and apoptosis were measured. Our concept was to investigate whether suicide gene therapy with Ad. CD-5-FC could be used with safety and efficiency as a future local treatment for melanoma located in the eye cavity. Indeed, our results indicated that in every 5-FC administration had mild cytotoxicity for the retinal cells, while increased apoptosis was observed for the melanoma cell line.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonios Sakkas
- 1. Pulmonary Department-Oncology Unit, ``G. Papanikolaou`` General Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Paul Zarogoulidis
- 1. Pulmonary Department-Oncology Unit, ``G. Papanikolaou`` General Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Kalliopi Domvri
- 1. Pulmonary Department-Oncology Unit, ``G. Papanikolaou`` General Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
| | | | - Dimitris Bougiouklis
- 3. Gene and Cell Therapy Center, Hematology-BMT Unit, ``G. Papanikolaou`` Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Stylianos Kakolyris
- 4. Oncology Department, University General Hospital of Alexandroupolis, Alexandroupolis, Greece
| | - Thomas Zarampoukas
- 1. Pulmonary Department-Oncology Unit, ``G. Papanikolaou`` General Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Ioannis Kioumis
- 1. Pulmonary Department-Oncology Unit, ``G. Papanikolaou`` General Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Georgia Pitsiou
- 1. Pulmonary Department-Oncology Unit, ``G. Papanikolaou`` General Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Haidong Huang
- 5. Department of Respiratory Diseases, Changhai Hospital/First Affiliated Hospital of the Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China
| | - Qiang Li
- 5. Department of Respiratory Diseases, Changhai Hospital/First Affiliated Hospital of the Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China
| | - Soultana Meditskou
- 6. Laboratory of Histology, Embryology and Anthropology, Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Theodora Tsiouda
- 7. Internal Medicine Department, ``Theiageneio`` Anticancer Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece
| | | | - Konstantinos Zarogoulidis
- 1. Pulmonary Department-Oncology Unit, ``G. Papanikolaou`` General Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
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Mavroudi M, Zarogoulidis P, Porpodis K, Kioumis I, Lampaki S, Yarmus L, Malecki R, Zarogoulidis K, Malecki M. Stem cells' guided gene therapy of cancer: New frontier in personalized and targeted therapy. J Cancer Res Ther (Manch) 2014; 2:22-33. [PMID: 24860662 PMCID: PMC4031908 DOI: 10.14312/2052-4994.2014-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Diagnosis and therapy of cancer remain to be the greatest challenges for all physicians working in clinical oncology and molecular medicine. The statistics speak for themselves with the grim reports of 1,638,910 men and women diagnosed with cancer and nearly 577,190 patients passed away due to cancer in the USA in 2012. For practicing clinicians, who treat patients suffering from advanced cancers with contemporary systemic therapies, the main challenge is to attain therapeutic efficacy, while minimizing side effects. Unfortunately, all contemporary systemic therapies cause side effects. In treated patients, these side effects may range from nausea to damaged tissues. In cancer survivors, the iatrogenic outcomes of systemic therapies may include genomic mutations and their consequences. Therefore, there is an urgent need for personalized and targeted therapies. Recently, we reviewed the current status of suicide gene therapy for cancer. Herein, we discuss the novel strategy: genetically engineered stem cells' guided gene therapy. REVIEW OF THERAPEUTIC STRATEGIES IN PRECLINICAL AND CLINICAL TRIALS Stem cells have the unique potential for self renewal and differentiation. This potential is the primary reason for introducing them into medicine to regenerate injured or degenerated organs, as well as to rejuvenate aging tissues. Recent advances in genetic engineering and stem cell research have created the foundations for genetic engineering of stem cells as the vectors for delivery of therapeutic transgenes. Specifically in oncology, the stem cells are genetically engineered to deliver the cell suicide inducing genes selectively to the cancer cells only. Expression of the transgenes kills the cancer cells, while leaving healthy cells unaffected. Herein, we present various strategies to bioengineer suicide inducing genes and stem cell vectors. Moreover, we review results of the main preclinical studies and clinical trials. However, the main risk for therapeutic use of stem cells is their cancerous transformation. Therefore, we discuss various strategies to safeguard stem cell guided gene therapy against iatrogenic cancerogenesis. PERSPECTIVES Defining cancer biomarkers to facilitate early diagnosis, elucidating cancer genomics and proteomics with modern tools of next generation sequencing, and analyzing patients' gene expression profiles provide essential data to elucidate molecular dynamics of cancer and to consider them for crafting pharmacogenomics-based personalized therapies. Streamlining of these data into genetic engineering of stem cells facilitates their use as the vectors delivering therapeutic genes into specific cancer cells. In this realm, stem cells guided gene therapy becomes a promising new frontier in personalized and targeted therapy of cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Mavroudi
- “G. Papanikolaou” General Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece, EU
| | - Paul Zarogoulidis
- “G. Papanikolaou” General Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece, EU
| | - Konstantinos Porpodis
- “G. Papanikolaou” General Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece, EU
| | - Ioannis Kioumis
- “G. Papanikolaou” General Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece, EU
| | - Sofia Lampaki
- “G. Papanikolaou” General Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece, EU
| | | | - Raf Malecki
- San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Phoenix Biomolecular Engineering Foundation, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | | | - Marek Malecki
- Phoenix Biomolecular Engineering Foundation, San Francisco, CA, USA
- University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA
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Altaner C, Altanerova V, Cihova M, Ondicova K, Rychly B, Baciak L, Mravec B. Complete regression of glioblastoma by mesenchymal stem cells mediated prodrug gene therapy simulating clinical therapeutic scenario. Int J Cancer 2013; 134:1458-65. [PMID: 24038033 DOI: 10.1002/ijc.28455] [Citation(s) in RCA: 80] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2013] [Accepted: 08/07/2013] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Suicide gene therapy mediated by mesenchymal stem cells with their ability to engraft into tumors makes these therapeutic stem cells an attractive tool to activate prodrugs directly within the tumor mass. In this study, we evaluated the therapeutic efficacy of human mesenchymal stem cells derived from bone marrow and from adipose tissue, engineered to express the suicide gene cytosine deaminase::uracil phosphoribosyltransferase to treat intracerebral rat C6 glioblastoma in a simulated clinical therapeutic scenario. Intracerebrally grown glioblastoma was treated by resection and subsequently with single or repeated intracerebral inoculations of therapeutic stem cells followed by a continuous intracerebroventricular delivery of 5-fluorocytosine using an osmotic pump. Kaplan-Meier survival curves revealed that surgical resection of the tumor increased the survival time of the resected animals depending on the extent of surgical intervention. However, direct injections of therapeutic stem cells into the brain tissue surrounding the postoperative resection cavity led to a curative outcome in a significant number of treated animals. Moreover, the continuous supply of therapeutic stem cells into the brain with growing glioblastoma by osmotic pumps together with continuous prodrug delivery also proved to be therapeutically efficient. We assume that observed curative therapy of glioblastoma by stem cell-mediated prodrug gene therapy might be caused by the destruction of both tumor cells and the niche where glioblastoma initiating cells reside.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cestmir Altaner
- Cancer Research Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Laboratory of Molecular Oncology, Bratislava, Slovakia; St. Elisabeth Cancer Institute, Center for Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine, Bratislava, Slovakia
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Cramer F, Christensen CL, Poulsen TT, Badding MA, Dean DA, Poulsen HS. Insertion of a nuclear factor kappa B DNA nuclear-targeting sequence potentiates suicide gene therapy efficacy in lung cancer cell lines. Cancer Gene Ther 2012; 19:675-83. [PMID: 22898898 PMCID: PMC11070189 DOI: 10.1038/cgt.2012.54] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2012] [Accepted: 07/16/2012] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
Lung cancer currently causes the majority of cancer-related deaths worldwide and new treatments are in high demand. Gene therapy could be a promising treatment but currently lacks sufficient efficiency for clinical use, primarily due to limited cellular and nuclear DNA delivery. In the present study, we investigated whether it was possible to exploit the endogenous nuclear-shuttling activity by the nuclear factor kappa B (NFκB) system, which is highly prominent in many cancers as well as lung cancer. We observed that insertion of a DNA nuclear-targeting sequence (DTS) recognized by NFκB could improve plasmid nuclear delivery and enhance the therapeutic effect of a validated transcriptionally cancer-targeted suicide gene therapy system. A clear correlation between the number of inserted NFκB-binding sites and the therapeutic effect of the suicide system was observed in both small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and non-SCLC cell lines. The effect was observed to be due to elevated nuclear translocation of the suicide gene-encoding plasmids. The results show that a significant improvement of gene therapeutic efficiency can be obtained by increasing the intracellular trafficking of therapeutic DNA. This is to our knowledge the first time a DTS strategy has been implemented for suicide gene therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- F Cramer
- Department of Radiation Biology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - CL Christensen
- Department of Radiation Biology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - TT Poulsen
- Department of Radiation Biology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - MA Badding
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
| | - DA Dean
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
| | - HS Poulsen
- Department of Radiation Biology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Ogawa R, Morii A, Watanabe A, Cui ZG, Kagiya G, Fukuda S, Kume K, Hasegawa T, Hatashita M, Izumi H, Ishimoto T, Feril LB. Development of a therapeutically important radiation induced promoter. Bioengineered 2012; 4:44-9. [PMID: 22929999 DOI: 10.4161/bioe.21965] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Radio-genetic therapy is a combination of radiation therapy and gene therapy that may solve some of the problems associated with conventional radiotherapy. A promoter responsive to radiation was obtained from a promoter library composed of DNA fragments created by linking the TATA box signal to randomly combined binding sequences of transcription factors that are reactive to radiation. Each promoter connected to the luciferase gene, was evaluated by luciferase expression enhancement in transfected cells after X-ray irradiation. The reactivity of the best promoter was improved by the random introduction of point mutations and the resultant promoter showed more than a 20-fold enhancement of the luciferase expression after X-ray irradiation at 10 Gy. The expression of downstream genes was also enhanced in stably transfected cells not only by X-rays but also by proton beam irradiation; and either enhancement was attenuated when an anti-oxidant was added, thus suggesting the involvement of oxidative stress in the promoter activation. Constructed promoters were also activated in tumors grown in mice. In addition, cell killing with the fcy::fur gene (a suicide gene converting 5-fluorocytosin to highly toxic 5-fluorouracil) increased dose-dependently with 5-fluorocytosin only after X-ray irradiation in vitro. These results suggest that promoters obtained through this method could be used for possible clinical applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryohei Ogawa
- Department of Radiological Sciences; Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences; University of Toyama; Toyama, Japan.
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Abstract
Pituitary adenomas constitute the most frequent neuroendocrine pathology in humans. Current therapies include surgery, radiotherapy and pharmacological approaches. Although useful, none of them offers a permanent cure. Current research efforts to implement gene therapy in pituitary tumors include the treatment of experimental adenomas with adenoviral vector-mediated transfer of the suicide gene for thymidine kinase, which converts the prodrug ganciclovir into a toxic metabolite. In some cases, the suicide transgene has been placed under the control of pituitary cell-type specific promoters. Also, regulatable adenoviral vector systems are being assessed in gene therapy approaches for experimental pituitary tumors. Although the efficiency and safety of current viral vectors must be optimized before clinical use, they remain as highly promising therapeutic tools.
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Affiliation(s)
- Silvia S. Rodriguez
- Histology and Embryology B-CICPBA
- INIBIOLP-CONICET, Faculty of Medicine, University of La Plata
| | - Maria G. Castro
- Gene Therapeutics Research Institute, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
| | - Oscar A. Brown
- Histology and Embryology B-CICPBA
- INIBIOLP-CONICET, Faculty of Medicine, University of La Plata
| | - Rodolfo G. Goya
- Histology and Embryology B-CICPBA
- INIBIOLP-CONICET, Faculty of Medicine, University of La Plata
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Lupold SE, Rodriguez R. Adenoviral gene therapy, radiation, and prostate cancer. Rev Urol 2005; 7:193-202. [PMID: 16985830 PMCID: PMC1550784] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/11/2023]
Abstract
Viral gene therapy has exceptional potential as a specifically tailored cancer treatment. However, enthusiasm for cancer gene therapy has varied over the years, partly owing to safety concerns after the death of a young volunteer in a clinical trial for a genetic disease. Since this singular tragedy, results from numerous clinical trials over the past 10 years have restored the excellent safety profile of adenoviral vectors. These vectors have been extensively studied in phase I and II trials as intraprostatically administered agents for patients with locally recurrent and high-risk local prostate cancer. Promising therapeutic responses have been reported in several studies with both oncolytic and suicide gene therapy strategies. The additional benefit of combining gene therapy with radiation therapy has also been realized; replicating adenoviruses inhibit DNA repair pathways, resulting in a synergistic sensitization to radiation. Other, nonreplicating suicide gene therapy strategies are also significantly enhanced with radiation. Combined radiation/gene therapy is currently being studied in phase I and II clinical trials and will likely be the first adenoviral gene therapy mechanism to become available to urologists in the clinic. Systemic gene therapy for metastatic disease is also a major goal of the field, and clinical trials are currently under way for hormone-resistant metastatic prostate cancer. Second- and third-generation "re-targeted" viral vectors, currently being developed in the laboratory, are likely to further improve these systemic trials.
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Alsheikhly AR, Zweiri J, Walmesley AJ, Watson AJM, Christmas SE. Both soluble and membrane-bound forms of Flt3 ligand enhance tumor immunity following "suicide" gene therapy in a murine colon carcinoma model. Cancer Immunol Immunother 2004; 53:946-54. [PMID: 15185012 PMCID: PMC11034275 DOI: 10.1007/s00262-004-0553-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2003] [Accepted: 04/14/2004] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
In prodrug-activated ("suicide") gene therapy, tumor cells are transfected with the gene for an enzyme that converts an inactive prodrug, such as ganciclovir (GCV), to a toxic compound. Transfected cells are killed on administration of GCV, as also are untransfected "bystander" cells. The ability of the dendritic cell stimulatory cytokine Flt3 ligand (Flt3-L) to modulate prodrug-activated gene therapy has been investigated. Transfectants of the murine colon carcinoma MC26 were generated expressing soluble (FLS) and membrane-bound forms of Flt3-L. They were inoculated together with wild-type MC26 cells and cells expressing herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV1) thymidine kinase into BALB/c mice, which were then administered GCV. Expression of Flt3-L or FLS prevented regrowth of tumor in most mice, which was comparable to the effect of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), while tumors recurred in all mice receiving "suicide" gene therapy alone. Recurring tumor cells were resistant to direct killing by GCV but sensitive to "bystander" killing in vitro. Mice without tumor recurrence were rechallenged with unmodified MC26 cells. Of those mice given transfectants expressing GM-CSF, Flt3-L, or FLS, approximately 50% were immune to rechallenge. These mice also showed cytotoxic and proliferative responses to MC26 cells. These experiments show that both soluble and membrane-bound forms of Flt3-L were able to induce a protective immune response to colon carcinoma cells in a fashion similar to GM-CSF.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abdul-Razzak Alsheikhly
- Department of Immunology, University of Liverpool Medical School, Daulby St., Liverpool, L69 3GA UK
| | - Jehad Zweiri
- Department of Immunology, University of Liverpool Medical School, Daulby St., Liverpool, L69 3GA UK
| | - Alice J. Walmesley
- Department of Medicine, University of Liverpool Medical School, Daulby St., Liverpool, L69 3GA UK
| | - Alastair J. M. Watson
- Department of Medicine, University of Liverpool Medical School, Daulby St., Liverpool, L69 3GA UK
| | - Stephen E. Christmas
- Department of Immunology, University of Liverpool Medical School, Daulby St., Liverpool, L69 3GA UK
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Abstract
Pituitary adenomas constitute the most frequent neuroendocrine pathology, comprising up to 15% of primary intracranial tumors. Current therapies for pituitary tumors include surgery and radiotherapy, as well as pharmacological approaches for some types. Although all of these approaches have shown a significant degree of success, they are not devoid of unwanted side effects, and in most cases do not offer a permanent cure. Gene therapy-the transfer of genetic material for therapeutic purposes-has undergone an explosive development in the last few years. Within this context, the development of gene therapy approaches for the treatment of pituitary tumors emerges as a promising area of research. We begin by presenting a brief account of the genesis of prolactinomas, with particular emphasis on how estradiol induces prolactinomas in animals. In so doing, we discuss the role of each of the recently discovered growth inhibitory and growth stimulatory substances and their interactions in estrogen action. We also evaluate the cell-cell communication that may govern these growth factor interactions and subsequently promote the growth and survival of prolactinomas. Current research efforts to implement gene therapy in pituitary tumors include the treatment of experimental prolactinomas or somatomammotropic tumors with adenoviral vector-mediated transfer of the suicide gene for the herpes simplex type 1 (HSV1) thymidine kinase, which converts the prodrug ganciclovir into a toxic metabolite. In some cases, the suicide transgene has been placed under the control of pituitary cell-type specific promoters, like the human prolactin or human growth hormone promoters. Also, regulatable adenoviral vector systems are being assessed in gene therapy approaches for experimental pituitary tumors. In a different type of approach, an adenoviral vector, encoding the human retinoblastoma suppressor oncogene, has been successfully used to rescue the phenotype of spontaneous pituitary tumors of the pars intermedia in mice. We close the article by discussing the future of molecular therapies. We point out that although, gene therapy represents a key step in the development of molecular medicine, it has inherent limitations. As a consequence, it is our view that at some point, genetic therapies will have to move from exogenous gene transfer (i.e. gene therapy) to endogenous gene repair. This approach will call for radically new technologies, such as nanotechnology, whose present state of development is outlined.
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Affiliation(s)
- R G Goya
- Institute for Biochemical Research at La Plata, Faculty of Medicine, National University of La Plata, Argentina.
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50
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Abstract
Lentiviral-mediated gene delivery holds significant promise for sustained gene expression within living systems. Vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein-pseudotyped human immunodeficiency virus type 1-based lentiviral vectors can be used to introduce transgenes in a broad spectrum of dividing as well as nondividing cells. In the current study, we construct a lentiviral vector carrying two reporter genes separated by an internal ribosomal entry site and utilize that virus in delivering both genes into neuroblastoma cells in cell culture and into cells implanted in living mice. We utilize two reporter genes, a mutant herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1) sr39tk as a reporter gene compatible with positron emission tomography (PET) and a bioluminescent optical reporter gene, firefly luciferase (Fluc), to image expression in living mice by an optical charge-coupled device (CCD) camera. By using this lentivirus, neuroblastoma (N2a) cells are stably transfected and a high correlation (R(2) = 0.91) between expressions of the two reporter genes in cell culture is established. Imaging of both reporter genes using microPET and optical CCD camera in living mice is feasible, with the optical approach being more sensitive, and a high correlation (R(2) = 0.86) between gene expressions is again observed in lentiviral-infected N2a tumor xenografts. Indirect imaging of HSV1-sr39tk suicide gene therapy utilizing Fluc is also feasible and can be detected with increased sensitivity by using the optical CCD. These preliminary results validate the use of lentiviral vectors carrying reporter genes for multimodality imaging of gene expression and should have many applications, including imaging of xenografts, metastasis, and cell trafficking as well as noninvasive monitoring of lentiviral-mediated gene delivery and expression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abhijit De
- The Crump Institute for Molecular Imaging, University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90095-1770, USA
- Department of Molecular & Medical Pharmacology, University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90095-1770, USA
| | - Xiaoman Zhou Lewis
- Department of Molecular & Medical Pharmacology, University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90095-1770, USA
| | - Sanjiv Sam Gambhir
- The Crump Institute for Molecular Imaging, University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90095-1770, USA
- Department of Molecular & Medical Pharmacology, University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90095-1770, USA
- UCLA–Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90095-1770, USA
- Department of Biomathematics, University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90095-1770, USA
- To whom correspondence and reprint requests should be addressed at the Crump Institute for Molecular Imaging, Department of Molecular & Medical Pharmacology, UCLA School of Medicine, B3-399A BRI, 700 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1770. Fax: (310) 209-4655.
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