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Eldfors S, Saad J, Ikonen N, Malani D, Vähä-Koskela M, Gjertsen BT, Kontro M, Porkka K, Heckman CA. Monosomy 7/del(7q) cause sensitivity to inhibitors of nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase in acute myeloid leukemia. Blood Adv 2024; 8:1621-1633. [PMID: 38197948 PMCID: PMC10987804 DOI: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2023010435] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2023] [Revised: 12/11/2023] [Accepted: 12/30/2023] [Indexed: 01/11/2024] Open
Abstract
ABSTRACT Monosomy 7 and del(7q) (-7/-7q) are frequent chromosomal abnormalities detected in up to 10% of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Despite unfavorable treatment outcomes, no approved targeted therapies exist for patients with -7/-7q. Therefore, we aimed to identify novel vulnerabilities. Through an analysis of data from ex vivo drug screens of 114 primary AML samples, we discovered that -7/-7q AML cells are highly sensitive to the inhibition of nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (NAMPT). NAMPT is the rate-limiting enzyme in the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide salvage pathway. Mechanistically, the NAMPT gene is located at 7q22.3, and deletion of 1 copy due to -7/-7q results in NAMPT haploinsufficiency, leading to reduced expression and a therapeutically targetable vulnerability to the inhibition of NAMPT. Our results show that in -7/-7q AML, differentiated CD34+CD38+ myeloblasts are more sensitive to the inhibition of NAMPT than less differentiated CD34+CD38- myeloblasts. Furthermore, the combination of the BCL2 inhibitor venetoclax and the NAMPT inhibitor KPT-9274 resulted in the death of significantly more leukemic blasts in AML samples with -7/-7q than the NAMPT inhibitor alone. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that AML with -7/-7q is highly sensitive to NAMPT inhibition, suggesting that NAMPT inhibitors have the potential to be an effective targeted therapy for patients with monosomy 7 or del(7q).
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuli Eldfors
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Krantz Family Center for Cancer Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA
- Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Joseph Saad
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Nemo Ikonen
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Disha Malani
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
- Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
| | - Markus Vähä-Koskela
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Bjørn T. Gjertsen
- Department of Medicine, Hematology Section, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
- Department of Clinical Science, Center for Cancer Biomarkers, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Mika Kontro
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Hematology, Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
- Foundation for the Finnish Cancer Institute, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Kimmo Porkka
- Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Hematology, Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Caroline A. Heckman
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship, Helsinki, Finland
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2
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Kuusanmäki H, Dufva O, Vähä-Koskela M, Leppä AM, Huuhtanen J, Vänttinen I, Nygren P, Klievink J, Bouhlal J, Pölönen P, Zhang Q, Adnan-Awad S, Mancebo-Pérez C, Saad J, Miettinen J, Javarappa KK, Aakko S, Ruokoranta T, Eldfors S, Heinäniemi M, Theilgaard-Mönch K, Wartiovaara-Kautto U, Keränen M, Porkka K, Konopleva M, Wennerberg K, Kontro M, Heckman CA, Mustjoki S. Erythroid/megakaryocytic differentiation confers BCL-XL dependency and venetoclax resistance in acute myeloid leukemia. Blood 2023; 141:1610-1625. [PMID: 36508699 PMCID: PMC10651789 DOI: 10.1182/blood.2021011094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2021] [Revised: 09/20/2022] [Accepted: 11/28/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Myeloid neoplasms with erythroid or megakaryocytic differentiation include pure erythroid leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome with erythroid features, and acute megakaryoblastic leukemia (FAB M7) and are characterized by poor prognosis and limited treatment options. Here, we investigate the drug sensitivity landscape of these rare malignancies. We show that acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells with erythroid or megakaryocytic differentiation depend on the antiapoptotic protein B-cell lymphoma (BCL)-XL, rather than BCL-2, using combined ex vivo drug sensitivity testing, genetic perturbation, and transcriptomic profiling. High-throughput screening of >500 compounds identified the BCL-XL-selective inhibitor A-1331852 and navitoclax as highly effective against erythroid/megakaryoblastic leukemia cell lines. In contrast, these AML subtypes were resistant to the BCL-2 inhibitor venetoclax, which is used clinically in the treatment of AML. Consistently, genome-scale CRISPR-Cas9 and RNAi screening data demonstrated the striking essentiality of BCL-XL-encoding BCL2L1 but not BCL2 or MCL1, for the survival of erythroid/megakaryoblastic leukemia cell lines. Single-cell and bulk transcriptomics of patient samples with erythroid and megakaryoblastic leukemias identified high BCL2L1 expression compared with other subtypes of AML and other hematological malignancies, where BCL2 and MCL1 were more prominent. BCL-XL inhibition effectively killed blasts in samples from patients with AML with erythroid or megakaryocytic differentiation ex vivo and reduced tumor burden in a mouse erythroleukemia xenograft model. Combining the BCL-XL inhibitor with the JAK inhibitor ruxolitinib showed synergistic and durable responses in cell lines. Our results suggest targeting BCL-XL as a potential therapy option in erythroid/megakaryoblastic leukemias and highlight an AML subgroup with potentially reduced sensitivity to venetoclax-based treatments.
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MESH Headings
- Animals
- Mice
- Humans
- Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2/genetics
- Myeloid Cell Leukemia Sequence 1 Protein/genetics
- Cell Line, Tumor
- Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute/drug therapy
- Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute/genetics
- Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute/metabolism
- Bridged Bicyclo Compounds, Heterocyclic/pharmacology
- Bridged Bicyclo Compounds, Heterocyclic/therapeutic use
- bcl-X Protein/genetics
- Leukemia, Megakaryoblastic, Acute/drug therapy
- Leukemia, Megakaryoblastic, Acute/genetics
- Lymphoma, B-Cell
- Cell Differentiation
- Apoptosis
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Affiliation(s)
- Heikki Kuusanmäki
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Biotech Research & Innovation Centre and Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Biology (DanStem), University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Foundation for the Finnish Cancer Institute, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Olli Dufva
- Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
- Translational Immunology Research Program and Department of Clinical Chemistry and Hematology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Markus Vähä-Koskela
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Aino-Maija Leppä
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Division of Stem Cells and Cancer, German Cancer Research Center and DKFZ-ZMBH Alliance, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Jani Huuhtanen
- Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
- Translational Immunology Research Program and Department of Clinical Chemistry and Hematology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Computer Science, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
| | - Ida Vänttinen
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Petra Nygren
- Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
- Translational Immunology Research Program and Department of Clinical Chemistry and Hematology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Jay Klievink
- Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
- Translational Immunology Research Program and Department of Clinical Chemistry and Hematology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Jonas Bouhlal
- Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
- Translational Immunology Research Program and Department of Clinical Chemistry and Hematology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Petri Pölönen
- Institute of Biomedicine, School of Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland
| | - Qi Zhang
- Department of Leukemia, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
| | - Shady Adnan-Awad
- Foundation for the Finnish Cancer Institute, Helsinki, Finland
- Translational Immunology Research Program and Department of Clinical Chemistry and Hematology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Cristina Mancebo-Pérez
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Joseph Saad
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Juho Miettinen
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Komal K. Javarappa
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Sofia Aakko
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Tanja Ruokoranta
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Samuli Eldfors
- Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA
| | - Merja Heinäniemi
- Institute of Biomedicine, School of Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland
| | - Kim Theilgaard-Mönch
- Biotech Research & Innovation Centre and Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Biology (DanStem), University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Department of Hematology and Finsen Laboratory, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Ulla Wartiovaara-Kautto
- Department of Hematology, Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Mikko Keränen
- Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
- Translational Immunology Research Program and Department of Clinical Chemistry and Hematology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Hematology, Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Kimmo Porkka
- Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
- Translational Immunology Research Program and Department of Clinical Chemistry and Hematology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Hematology, Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Marina Konopleva
- Department of Leukemia, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
| | - Krister Wennerberg
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Biotech Research & Innovation Centre and Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Biology (DanStem), University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Mika Kontro
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Foundation for the Finnish Cancer Institute, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Hematology, Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Caroline A. Heckman
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Satu Mustjoki
- Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
- Translational Immunology Research Program and Department of Clinical Chemistry and Hematology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship, Helsinki, Finland
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3
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Wang Y, Aldahdooh J, Hu Y, Yang H, Vähä-Koskela M, Tang J, Tanoli Z. DrugRepo: a novel approach to repurposing drugs based on chemical and genomic features. Sci Rep 2022; 12:21116. [PMID: 36477604 PMCID: PMC9729186 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-24980-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [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: 09/21/2022] [Accepted: 11/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The drug development process consumes 9-12 years and approximately one billion US dollars in costs. Due to the high finances and time costs required by the traditional drug discovery paradigm, repurposing old drugs to treat cancer and rare diseases is becoming popular. Computational approaches are mainly data-driven and involve a systematic analysis of different data types leading to the formulation of repurposing hypotheses. This study presents a novel scoring algorithm based on chemical and genomic data to repurpose drugs for 669 diseases from 22 groups, including various cancers, musculoskeletal, infections, cardiovascular, and skin diseases. The data types used to design the scoring algorithm are chemical structures, drug-target interactions (DTI), pathways, and disease-gene associations. The repurposed scoring algorithm is strengthened by integrating the most comprehensive manually curated datasets for each data type. At DrugRepo score ≥ 0.4, we repurposed 516 approved drugs across 545 diseases. Moreover, hundreds of novel predicted compounds can be matched with ongoing studies at clinical trials. Our analysis is supported by a web tool available at: http://drugrepo.org/ .
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Affiliation(s)
- Yinyin Wang
- grid.7737.40000 0004 0410 2071Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Jehad Aldahdooh
- grid.7737.40000 0004 0410 2071Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Yingying Hu
- grid.7737.40000 0004 0410 2071Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Hongbin Yang
- grid.5335.00000000121885934Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Markus Vähä-Koskela
- grid.7737.40000 0004 0410 2071Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Jing Tang
- grid.7737.40000 0004 0410 2071Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Ziaurrehman Tanoli
- grid.7737.40000 0004 0410 2071Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland ,BioICAWtech, Helsinki, Finland
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4
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Aldahdooh J, Vähä-Koskela M, Tang J, Tanoli Z. Using BERT to identify drug-target interactions from whole PubMed. BMC Bioinformatics 2022; 23:245. [PMID: 35729494 PMCID: PMC9214985 DOI: 10.1186/s12859-022-04768-x] [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: 10/25/2021] [Accepted: 06/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Drug-target interactions (DTIs) are critical for drug repurposing and elucidation of drug mechanisms, and are manually curated by large databases, such as ChEMBL, BindingDB, DrugBank and DrugTargetCommons. However, the number of curated articles likely constitutes only a fraction of all the articles that contain experimentally determined DTIs. Finding such articles and extracting the experimental information is a challenging task, and there is a pressing need for systematic approaches to assist the curation of DTIs. To this end, we applied Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) to identify such articles. Because DTI data intimately depends on the type of assays used to generate it, we also aimed to incorporate functions to predict the assay format. RESULTS Our novel method identified 0.6 million articles (along with drug and protein information) which are not previously included in public DTI databases. Using 10-fold cross-validation, we obtained ~ 99% accuracy for identifying articles containing quantitative drug-target profiles. The F1 micro for the prediction of assay format is 88%, which leaves room for improvement in future studies. CONCLUSION The BERT model in this study is robust and the proposed pipeline can be used to identify previously overlooked articles containing quantitative DTIs. Overall, our method provides a significant advancement in machine-assisted DTI extraction and curation. We expect it to be a useful addition to drug mechanism discovery and repurposing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jehad Aldahdooh
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.,Doctoral Programme in Computer Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Markus Vähä-Koskela
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Jing Tang
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
| | - Ziaurrehman Tanoli
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. .,BioICAWtech, Helsinki, Finland.
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5
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Tanoli Z, Aldahdooh J, Alam F, Wang Y, Seemab U, Fratelli M, Pavlis P, Hajduch M, Bietrix F, Gribbon P, Zaliani A, Hall MD, Shen M, Brimacombe K, Kulesskiy E, Saarela J, Wennerberg K, Vähä-Koskela M, Tang J. Minimal information for chemosensitivity assays (MICHA): a next-generation pipeline to enable the FAIRification of drug screening experiments. Brief Bioinform 2021; 23:6361039. [PMID: 34472587 PMCID: PMC8769689 DOI: 10.1093/bib/bbab350] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [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] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2021] [Revised: 08/03/2021] [Accepted: 08/02/2021] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Chemosensitivity assays are commonly used for preclinical drug discovery and clinical trial optimization. However, data from independent assays are often discordant, largely attributed to uncharacterized variation in the experimental materials and protocols. We report here the launching of Minimal Information for Chemosensitivity Assays (MICHA), accessed via https://micha-protocol.org. Distinguished from existing efforts that are often lacking support from data integration tools, MICHA can automatically extract publicly available information to facilitate the assay annotation including: 1) compounds, 2) samples, 3) reagents and 4) data processing methods. For example, MICHA provides an integrative web server and database to obtain compound annotation including chemical structures, targets and disease indications. In addition, the annotation of cell line samples, assay protocols and literature references can be greatly eased by retrieving manually curated catalogues. Once the annotation is complete, MICHA can export a report that conforms to the FAIR principle (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) of drug screening studies. To consolidate the utility of MICHA, we provide FAIRified protocols from five major cancer drug screening studies as well as six recently conducted COVID-19 studies. With the MICHA web server and database, we envisage a wider adoption of a community-driven effort to improve the open access of drug sensitivity assays.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ziaurrehman Tanoli
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Jehad Aldahdooh
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Farhan Alam
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Yinyin Wang
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Umair Seemab
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | | | - Petr Pavlis
- Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine, Czech
| | - Marian Hajduch
- Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine, Czech
| | | | - Philip Gribbon
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology, Germany
| | - Andrea Zaliani
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology, Germany
| | - Matthew D Hall
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, USA
| | - Min Shen
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, USA
| | | | - Evgeny Kulesskiy
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Jani Saarela
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Krister Wennerberg
- Biotech Research & Innovation Centre (BRIC), University of Copenhagen, Denmark
| | | | - Jing Tang
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
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6
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Britton-Rivet C, Houghton J, Khanolkar R, Patel M, Aleksic T, Vähä-Koskela M, Benlahrech A, Gascoyne D. 853P PRAME expression and ImmTAC TCR bispecific sensitivity in acute myeloid leukaemia in the presence and absence of the hypomethylating agent decitabine. Ann Oncol 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.annonc.2021.08.146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022] Open
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7
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Tanoli Z, Aldahdooh J, Alam F, Wang Y, Seemab U, Fratelli M, Pavlis P, Hajduch M, Bietrix F, Gribbon P, Zaliani A, Hall MD, Shen M, Brimacombe K, Kulesskiy E, Saarela J, Wennerberg K, Vähä-Koskela M, Tang J. Minimal information for Chemosensitivity assays (MICHA): A next-generation pipeline to enable the FAIRification of drug screening experiments. bioRxiv 2021. [PMID: 33300000 PMCID: PMC7724669 DOI: 10.1101/2020.12.03.409409] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [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] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Chemosensitivity assays are commonly used for preclinical drug discovery and clinical trial optimization. However, data from independent assays are often discordant, largely attributed to uncharacterized variation in the experimental materials and protocols. We report here the launching of MICHA (Minimal Information for Chemosensitivity Assays), accessed via https://micha-protocol.org. Distinguished from existing efforts that are often lacking support from data integration tools, MICHA can automatically extract publicly available information to facilitate the assay annotation including: 1) compounds, 2) samples, 3) reagents, and 4) data processing methods. For example, MICHA provides an integrative web server and database to obtain compound annotation including chemical structures, targets, and disease indications. In addition, the annotation of cell line samples, assay protocols and literature references can be greatly eased by retrieving manually curated catalogues. Once the annotation is complete, MICHA can export a report that conforms to the FAIR principle (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) of drug screening studies. To consolidate the utility of MICHA, we provide FAIRified protocols from five major cancer drug screening studies, as well as six recently conducted COVID-19 studies. With the MICHA webserver and database, we envisage a wider adoption of a community-driven effort to improve the open access of drug sensitivity assays.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ziaurrehman Tanoli
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Jehad Aldahdooh
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Farhan Alam
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Yinyin Wang
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Umair Seemab
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | | | - Petr Pavlis
- Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine, Czech
| | - Marian Hajduch
- Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine, Czech
| | | | - Philip Gribbon
- Fraunhofer Institute for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Andrea Zaliani
- Fraunhofer Institute for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Matthew D Hall
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, U.S.A
| | - Min Shen
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, U.S.A
| | | | - Evgeny Kulesskiy
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Jani Saarela
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Krister Wennerberg
- Biotech Research & Innovation Centre (BRIC), University of Copenhagen, Denmark
| | | | - Jing Tang
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
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8
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Tanoli Z, Seemab U, Scherer A, Wennerberg K, Tang J, Vähä-Koskela M. Exploration of databases and methods supporting drug repurposing: a comprehensive survey. Brief Bioinform 2021; 22:1656-1678. [PMID: 32055842 PMCID: PMC7986597 DOI: 10.1093/bib/bbaa003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2019] [Revised: 12/09/2019] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Drug development involves a deep understanding of the mechanisms of action and possible side effects of each drug, and sometimes results in the identification of new and unexpected uses for drugs, termed as drug repurposing. Both in case of serendipitous observations and systematic mechanistic explorations, confirmation of new indications for a drug requires hypothesis building around relevant drug-related data, such as molecular targets involved, and patient and cellular responses. These datasets are available in public repositories, but apart from sifting through the sheer amount of data imposing computational bottleneck, a major challenge is the difficulty in selecting which databases to use from an increasingly large number of available databases. The database selection is made harder by the lack of an overview of the types of data offered in each database. In order to alleviate these problems and to guide the end user through the drug repurposing efforts, we provide here a survey of 102 of the most promising and drug-relevant databases reported to date. We summarize the target coverage and types of data available in each database and provide several examples of how multi-database exploration can facilitate drug repurposing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ziaurrehman Tanoli
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Umair Seemab
- Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Andreas Scherer
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Krister Wennerberg
- Biotech Research & Innovation Centre (BRIC), University of Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Jing Tang
- Faculty of medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Markus Vähä-Koskela
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki, Finland
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9
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Juusola M, Kuuliala K, Kuuliala A, Mustonen H, Vähä-Koskela M, Puolakkainen P, Seppänen H. Pancreatic cancer is associated with aberrant monocyte function and successive differentiation into macrophages with inferior anti-tumour characteristics. Pancreatology 2021; 21:397-405. [PMID: 33461933 DOI: 10.1016/j.pan.2020.12.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2020] [Revised: 12/16/2020] [Accepted: 12/31/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES Inflammation is related to the development and progression of pancreatic cancer (PC). Locally, anti-inflammatory macrophages (M2), and systemically, high levels of certain inflammation-modulating cytokines associate with poor prognosis in PC. The detailed effects of systemic inflammation on circulating monocytes and macrophage polarisation remain unknown. We aimed to find out how intracellular signalling of peripheral blood monocytes is affected by the systemic inflammatory state in PC patients and how it affects their differentiation into macrophages. METHODS Monocytes were isolated from 50 consenting PC patients and 20 healthy controls (HC). The phosphorylation status of the signalling molecules was assessed by flow cytometry both from unstimulated and appropriately stimulated monocytes. Monocytes derived from HC and PC patients were co-cultured with cancer cells (MIA PaCa-2 and HPAF-II) in media supplemented with autologous serum, and the CD marker expression of the obtained macrophages was assessed by flow cytometry. RESULTS Phosphorylation levels of unstimulated STAT2, STAT3 and STAT6 were higher (p < 0.05) and those of stimulated NF-kB (p = 0.004) and STAT5 (p = 0.006) were lower in patients than in controls. The expression of CD86, a proinflammatory (M1) marker, was higher in control- than patient-derived co-cultured macrophages (p = 0.029). CONCLUSIONS Circulating monocytes from PC patients showed constitutive phosphorylation and weaker response to stimuli, indicating aberrant activation and immune suppression. When co-culturing the patient-derived monocytes with cancer cells, they differentiated into macrophages with reduced levels of M1 macrophage marker CD86, suggesting compromised anti-tumour features. The results highlight the need for global management of tumour-associated immune aberrations in PC treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matilda Juusola
- Department of Surgery, Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; Translational Cancer Medicine Research Program, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
| | - Krista Kuuliala
- Department of Bacteriology and Immunology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Antti Kuuliala
- Department of Bacteriology and Immunology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Harri Mustonen
- Department of Surgery, Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | | | - Pauli Puolakkainen
- Department of Surgery, Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; Translational Cancer Medicine Research Program, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Hanna Seppänen
- Department of Surgery, Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; Translational Cancer Medicine Research Program, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
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10
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Abstract
Introduction: Drug repurposing provides a cost-effective strategy to re-use approved drugs for new medical indications. Several machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) approaches have been developed for systematic identification of drug repurposing leads based on big data resources, hence further accelerating and de-risking the drug development process by computational means.Areas covered: The authors focus on supervised ML and AI methods that make use of publicly available databases and information resources. While most of the example applications are in the field of anticancer drug therapies, the methods and resources reviewed are widely applicable also to other indications including COVID-19 treatment. A particular emphasis is placed on the use of comprehensive target activity profiles that enable a systematic repurposing process by extending the target profile of drugs to include potent off-targets with therapeutic potential for a new indication.Expert opinion: The scarcity of clinical patient data and the current focus on genetic aberrations as primary drug targets may limit the performance of anticancer drug repurposing approaches that rely solely on genomics-based information. Functional testing of cancer patient cells exposed to a large number of targeted therapies and their combinations provides an additional source of repurposing information for tissue-aware AI approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ziaurrehman Tanoli
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), Helsinki Institute of Life Science (HiLife, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Markus Vähä-Koskela
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), Helsinki Institute of Life Science (HiLife, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Tero Aittokallio
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), Helsinki Institute of Life Science (HiLife, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.,Institute for Cancer Research, Department of Cancer Genetics, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.,Centre for Biostatistics and Epidemiology (OCBE), Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
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11
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Ianevski A, Lahtela J, Javarappa KK, Sergeev P, Ghimire BR, Gautam P, Vähä-Koskela M, Turunen L, Linnavirta N, Kuusanmäki H, Kontro M, Porkka K, Heckman CA, Mattila P, Wennerberg K, Giri AK, Aittokallio T. Patient-tailored design for selective co-inhibition of leukemic cell subpopulations. Sci Adv 2021; 7:eabe4038. [PMID: 33608276 PMCID: PMC7895436 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abe4038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2020] [Accepted: 01/08/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
The extensive drug resistance requires rational approaches to design personalized combinatorial treatments that exploit patient-specific therapeutic vulnerabilities to selectively target disease-driving cell subpopulations. To solve the combinatorial explosion challenge, we implemented an effective machine learning approach that prioritizes patient-customized drug combinations with a desired synergy-efficacy-toxicity balance by combining single-cell RNA sequencing with ex vivo single-agent testing in scarce patient-derived primary cells. When applied to two diagnostic and two refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patient cases, each with a different genetic background, we accurately predicted patient-specific combinations that not only resulted in synergistic cancer cell co-inhibition but also were capable of targeting specific AML cell subpopulations that emerge in differing stages of disease pathogenesis or treatment regimens. Our functional precision oncology approach provides an unbiased means for systematic identification of personalized combinatorial regimens that selectively co-inhibit leukemic cells while avoiding inhibition of nonmalignant cells, thereby increasing their likelihood for clinical translation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aleksandr Ianevski
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Helsinki Institute for Information Technology (HIIT), Department of Computer Science, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
| | - Jenni Lahtela
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Komal K Javarappa
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Philipp Sergeev
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Bishwa R Ghimire
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Prson Gautam
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Markus Vähä-Koskela
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Laura Turunen
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Nora Linnavirta
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Heikki Kuusanmäki
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Biotech Research and Innovation Centre (BRIC) and Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Biology (DanStem), University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Department of Hematology, Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Mika Kontro
- Department of Hematology, Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Kimmo Porkka
- Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Caroline A Heckman
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Pirkko Mattila
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Krister Wennerberg
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
- Biotech Research and Innovation Centre (BRIC) and Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Biology (DanStem), University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Anil K Giri
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
| | - Tero Aittokallio
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
- Helsinki Institute for Information Technology (HIIT), Department of Computer Science, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
- Institute for Cancer Research, Department of Cancer Genetics, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
- Centre for Biostatistics and Epidemiology (OCBE), Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
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12
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Dufva O, Pölönen P, Brück O, Keränen MAI, Klievink J, Mehtonen J, Huuhtanen J, Kumar A, Malani D, Siitonen S, Kankainen M, Ghimire B, Lahtela J, Mattila P, Vähä-Koskela M, Wennerberg K, Granberg K, Leivonen SK, Meriranta L, Heckman C, Leppä S, Nykter M, Lohi O, Heinäniemi M, Mustjoki S. Immunogenomic Landscape of Hematological Malignancies. Cancer Cell 2020; 38:380-399.e13. [PMID: 32649887 DOI: 10.1016/j.ccell.2020.06.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 85] [Impact Index Per Article: 21.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2019] [Revised: 03/27/2020] [Accepted: 05/29/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Understanding factors that shape the immune landscape across hematological malignancies is essential for immunotherapy development. We integrated over 8,000 transcriptomes and 2,000 samples with multilevel genomics of hematological cancers to investigate how immunological features are linked to cancer subtypes, genetic and epigenetic alterations, and patient survival, and validated key findings experimentally. Infiltration of cytotoxic lymphocytes was associated with TP53 and myelodysplasia-related changes in acute myeloid leukemia, and activated B cell-like phenotype and interferon-γ response in lymphoma. CIITA methylation regulating antigen presentation, cancer type-specific immune checkpoints, such as VISTA in myeloid malignancies, and variation in cancer antigen expression further contributed to immune heterogeneity and predicted survival. Our study provides a resource linking immunology with cancer subtypes and genomics in hematological malignancies.
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MESH Headings
- Acute Disease
- Epigenesis, Genetic
- Gene Expression Profiling/methods
- Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
- Genomics/methods
- HLA Antigens/genetics
- Humans
- Immunotherapy/methods
- Leukemia, Myeloid/genetics
- Leukemia, Myeloid/immunology
- Leukemia, Myeloid/therapy
- Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating/immunology
- Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating/metabolism
- Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse/genetics
- Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse/immunology
- Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse/therapy
- Multiple Myeloma/genetics
- Multiple Myeloma/immunology
- Multiple Myeloma/therapy
- Mutation
- Tumor Suppressor Protein p53/genetics
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Affiliation(s)
- Olli Dufva
- Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center (HUH CCC), 00029 Helsinki, Finland; Translational Immunology Research Program and Department of Clinical Chemistry and Hematology, University of Helsinki (UH), 00029 Helsinki, Finland; iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Petri Pölönen
- Institute of Biomedicine, School of Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, 70211 Kuopio, Finland
| | - Oscar Brück
- Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center (HUH CCC), 00029 Helsinki, Finland; Translational Immunology Research Program and Department of Clinical Chemistry and Hematology, University of Helsinki (UH), 00029 Helsinki, Finland; iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Mikko A I Keränen
- Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center (HUH CCC), 00029 Helsinki, Finland; Translational Immunology Research Program and Department of Clinical Chemistry and Hematology, University of Helsinki (UH), 00029 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Jay Klievink
- Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center (HUH CCC), 00029 Helsinki, Finland; Translational Immunology Research Program and Department of Clinical Chemistry and Hematology, University of Helsinki (UH), 00029 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Juha Mehtonen
- Institute of Biomedicine, School of Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, 70211 Kuopio, Finland
| | - Jani Huuhtanen
- Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center (HUH CCC), 00029 Helsinki, Finland; Translational Immunology Research Program and Department of Clinical Chemistry and Hematology, University of Helsinki (UH), 00029 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Ashwini Kumar
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, UH, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Disha Malani
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, UH, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Sanna Siitonen
- Department of Clinical Chemistry, UH and HUSLAB, HUH, 00029 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Matti Kankainen
- Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center (HUH CCC), 00029 Helsinki, Finland; Translational Immunology Research Program and Department of Clinical Chemistry and Hematology, University of Helsinki (UH), 00029 Helsinki, Finland; iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Bishwa Ghimire
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, UH, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Jenni Lahtela
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, UH, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Pirkko Mattila
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, UH, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
| | | | | | - Kirsi Granberg
- Laboratory of Computational Biology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University (TU), 33014 Tampere, Finland
| | - Suvi-Katri Leivonen
- Department of Oncology, HUH CCC, 00029 Helsinki, Finland; Applied Tumor Genomics Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, UH, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Leo Meriranta
- Department of Oncology, HUH CCC, 00029 Helsinki, Finland; Applied Tumor Genomics Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, UH, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Caroline Heckman
- iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship, Helsinki, Finland; Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, UH, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Sirpa Leppä
- iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship, Helsinki, Finland; Department of Oncology, HUH CCC, 00029 Helsinki, Finland; Applied Tumor Genomics Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, UH, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Matti Nykter
- Laboratory of Computational Biology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University (TU), 33014 Tampere, Finland
| | - Olli Lohi
- Tampere Center for Child Health Research, TU and Tays Cancer Center, Tampere University Hospital, 33521 Tampere, Finland
| | - Merja Heinäniemi
- Institute of Biomedicine, School of Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, 70211 Kuopio, Finland.
| | - Satu Mustjoki
- Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center (HUH CCC), 00029 Helsinki, Finland; Translational Immunology Research Program and Department of Clinical Chemistry and Hematology, University of Helsinki (UH), 00029 Helsinki, Finland; iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship, Helsinki, Finland.
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13
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Dufva O, Pölönen P, Brück O, Keränen MAI, Klievink J, Mehtonen J, Huuhtanen J, Kumar A, Malani D, Siitonen S, Kankainen M, Ghimire B, Lahtela J, Mattila P, Vähä-Koskela M, Wennerberg K, Granberg K, Leivonen SK, Meriranta L, Heckman C, Leppä S, Nykter M, Lohi O, Heinäniemi M, Mustjoki S. Immunogenomic Landscape of Hematological Malignancies. Cancer Cell 2020; 38:424-428. [PMID: 32931743 DOI: 10.1016/j.ccell.2020.08.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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14
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Gautam P, Vähä-Koskela M, Tomlinson M, Cox AD, Der CJ, Aittokallio T, Wennerberg K. Abstract A137: Drug screening and molecular profiling identifies INKA1 as a predictive biomarker for sensitivity to MAPK inhibition-antimitotic combination treatment in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Mol Cancer Ther 2019. [DOI: 10.1158/1535-7163.targ-19-a137] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most aggressive solid tumors and one of the leading causes of cancer death world-wide. PDAC patients have the poorest prognosis with a median survival of less than 6 months and a 5-year survival rate of less than 5%. Despite detailed genetic mapping of PDAC, there are currently no effective targeted therapies for the disease. More than 95% of PDAC harbor an activating mutation in the KRAS gene. Several attempts on targeting each effector molecule in MEK- and PI3K- pathways, which are well-validated effector pathways in KRAS mutant cancer, have been made. However, none of the monotherapies have shown to be efficacious due to resistance and reprogramming. Hence, in this study we used a drug sensitivity based functional approach to identify combination strategies to render RAF/MEK/ERK- and PI3K/AKT/mTOR- targeted therapies efficacious against KRAS-driven PDAC. Thirty KRAS-mutant patient derived cell lines were screened against an in-house drug library of 525 clinically relevant small molecule anti-cancer agents in combination with RAF/MEK/ERK and PI3K/AKT/mTOR inhibitors, to identify synergistic/synthetic lethal partners to LY3009120 (RAF inhibitor), trametinib (MEK inhibitor), SCH772984 (ERK inhibitor), alpelisib (PI3K inhibitor), ipatasertib (AKT inhibitor), everolimus (mTOR inhibitor). Promising drug combinations from the initial screen were re-evaluated in 8X8 dose response matrices. In parallel, RNA sequencing was carried out on the cell lines to stratify the combination treatment strategies against PDAC. One of the most striking synergies seen was between the RAF/MEK/ERK inhibitors and mitosis/ microtubule-targeting agent vincristine. The combination of a MEK inhibitor trametinib and vincristine selectively induced cell death in a subset of the PDAC cell lines (25%). A correlation was observed between a selective effect of the combination and high expression levels of INKA1, a tumor suppressor and endogenous inhibitor of PAK4. The result therefore suggests that PAK4 activity is an important negative regulator of cell death triggered by the trametinib-vincristine combination. In summary, we identified trametinib + vincristine as a selective drug combination for a subset of KRAS-mutant PDAC with a putative predictive biomarker (INKA1 expression), which holds a potential for clinical translation, hence requires further exploration.
Citation Format: Prson Gautam, Markus Vähä-Koskela, Max Tomlinson, Adrienne D. Cox, Channing J. Der, Tero Aittokallio, Krister Wennerberg. Drug screening and molecular profiling identifies INKA1 as a predictive biomarker for sensitivity to MAPK inhibition-antimitotic combination treatment in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2019 Oct 26-30; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2019;18(12 Suppl):Abstract nr A137. doi:10.1158/1535-7163.TARG-19-A137
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Affiliation(s)
- Prson Gautam
- 1Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki
| | - Markus Vähä-Koskela
- 1Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki
| | - Max Tomlinson
- 1Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki
| | - Adrienne D. Cox
- 2Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
| | - Channing J. Der
- 2Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
| | - Tero Aittokallio
- 1Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki
| | - Krister Wennerberg
- 3Biotech Research & Innovation Centre, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen
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15
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Tanoli Z, Alam Z, Ianevski A, Wennerberg K, Vähä-Koskela M, Aittokallio T. Interactive visual analysis of drug–target interaction networks using Drug Target Profiler, with applications to precision medicine and drug repurposing. Brief Bioinform 2018; 21:211-220. [PMID: 30566623 DOI: 10.1093/bib/bby119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2018] [Revised: 11/01/2018] [Accepted: 11/19/2018] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Knowledge of the full target space of drugs (or drug-like compounds) provides important insights into the potential therapeutic use of the agents to modulate or avoid their various on- and off-targets in drug discovery and precision medicine. However, there is a lack of consolidated databases and associated data exploration tools that allow for systematic profiling of drug target-binding potencies of both approved and investigational agents using a network-centric approach. We recently initiated a community-driven platform, Drug Target Commons (DTC), which is an open-data crowdsourcing platform designed to improve the management, reproducibility and extended use of compound-target bioactivity data for drug discovery and repurposing, as well as target identification applications. In this work, we demonstrate an integrated use of the rich bioactivity data from DTC and related drug databases using Drug Target Profiler (DTP), an open-source software and web tool for interactive exploration of drug-target interaction networks. DTP was designed for network-centric modeling of mode-of-action of multi-targeting anticancer compounds, especially for precision oncology applications. DTP enables users to construct an interaction network based on integrated bioactivity data across selected chemical compounds and their protein targets, further customizable using various visualization and filtering options, as well as cross-links to several drug and protein databases to provide comprehensive information of the network nodes and interactions. We demonstrate here the operation of the DTP tool and its unique features by several use cases related to both drug discovery and drug repurposing applications, using examples of anticancer drugs with shared target profiles. DTP is freely accessible at http://drugtargetprofiler.fimm.fi/.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ziaurrehman Tanoli
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Zaid Alam
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Aleksandr Ianevski
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Helsinki Institute for Information Technology, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
| | | | - Markus Vähä-Koskela
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Tero Aittokallio
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Helsinki Institute for Information Technology, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
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16
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Tanoli Z, Alam Z, Vähä-Koskela M, Ravikumar B, Malyutina A, Jaiswal A, Tang J, Wennerberg K, Aittokallio T. Drug Target Commons 2.0: a community platform for systematic analysis of drug-target interaction profiles. Database (Oxford) 2018; 2018:1-13. [PMID: 30219839 PMCID: PMC6146131 DOI: 10.1093/database/bay083] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2018] [Revised: 06/27/2018] [Accepted: 07/18/2018] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Drug Target Commons (DTC) is a web platform (database with user interface) for community-driven bioactivity data integration and standardization for comprehensive mapping, reuse and analysis of compound-target interaction profiles. End users can search, upload, edit, annotate and export expert-curated bioactivity data for further analysis, using an application programmable interface, database dump or tab-delimited text download options. To guide chemical biology and drug-repurposing applications, DTC version 2.0 includes updated clinical development information for the compounds and target gene-disease associations, as well as cancer-type indications for mutant protein targets, which are critical for precision oncology developments.
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Affiliation(s)
- ZiaurRehman Tanoli
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Zaid Alam
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Markus Vähä-Koskela
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Balaguru Ravikumar
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Alina Malyutina
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Alok Jaiswal
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Jing Tang
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | - Krister Wennerberg
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Biotech Research & Innovation Centre (BRIC), University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Tero Aittokallio
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
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17
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Niittykoski M, von Und Zu Fraunberg M, Martikainen M, Rauramaa T, Immonen A, Koponen S, Leinonen V, Vähä-Koskela M, Zhang Q, Kühnel F, Mei YF, Ylä-Herttuala S, Jääskeläinen JE, Hinkkanen A. Immunohistochemical Characterization and Sensitivity to Human Adenovirus Serotypes 3, 5, and 11p of New Cell Lines Derived from Human Diffuse Grade II to IV Gliomas. Transl Oncol 2017; 10:772-779. [PMID: 28797937 PMCID: PMC5610111 DOI: 10.1016/j.tranon.2017.07.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2017] [Revised: 07/13/2017] [Accepted: 07/13/2017] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Oncolytic adenoviruses show promise in targeting gliomas because they do not replicate in normal brain cells. However, clinical responses occur only in a subset of patients. One explanation could be the heterogenic expression level of virus receptors. Another contributing factor could be variable activity of tumor antiviral defenses in different glioma subtypes. METHODS We established a collection of primary low-passage cell lines from different glioma subtypes (3 glioblastomas, 3 oligoastrocytomas, and 2 oligodendrogliomas) and assessed them for receptor expression and sensitivity to human adenovirus (HAd) serotypes 3, 5, and 11p. To gauge the impact of antiviral defenses, we also compared the infectivity of the oncolytic adenoviruses in interferon (IFN)-pretreated cells with IFN-sensitive Semliki Forest virus (SFV). RESULTS Immunostaining revealed generally low expression of HAd5 receptor CAR in both primary tumors and derived cell lines. HAd11p receptor CD46 levels were maintained at moderate levels in both primary tumor samples and derived cell lines. HAd3 receptor DSG-2 was reduced in the cell lines compared to the tumors. Yet, at equal multiplicities of infection, the oncolytic potency of HAd5 in vitro in tumor-derived cells was comparable to HAd11p, whereas HAd3 lysed fewer cells than either of the other two HAd serotypes in 72 hours. IFN blocked replication of SFV, while HAds were rather unaffected. CONCLUSIONS Adenovirus receptor levels on glioma-derived cell lines did not correlate with infection efficacy and may not be a relevant indicator of clinical oncolytic potency. Adenovirus receptor analysis should be preferentially performed on biopsies obtained perioperatively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Minna Niittykoski
- Biotechnology and Molecular Medicine, A. I. Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
| | - Mikael von Und Zu Fraunberg
- NeuroCenter of Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland; Neurosurgery, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
| | - Miika Martikainen
- Biotechnology and Molecular Medicine, A. I. Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland; Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
| | - Tuomas Rauramaa
- Pathology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Eastern Finland and Department of Pathology, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland.
| | - Arto Immonen
- NeuroCenter of Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland; Neurosurgery, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
| | | | - Ville Leinonen
- NeuroCenter of Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland; Neurosurgery, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
| | - Markus Vähä-Koskela
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
| | - Qiwei Zhang
- Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
| | - Florian Kühnel
- Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
| | - Ya-Fang Mei
- Department of Clinical Microbiology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
| | - Seppo Ylä-Herttuala
- Biotechnology and Molecular Medicine, A. I. Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
| | - Juha E Jääskeläinen
- NeuroCenter of Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland; Neurosurgery, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
| | - Ari Hinkkanen
- Biotechnology and Molecular Medicine, A. I. Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
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18
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Hekim C, Ilander M, Yan J, Michaud E, Smykla R, Vähä-Koskela M, Savola P, Tähtinen S, Saikko L, Hemminki A, Kovanen PE, Porkka K, Lee FYF, Mustjoki S. Dasatinib Changes Immune Cell Profiles Concomitant with Reduced Tumor Growth in Several Murine Solid Tumor Models. Cancer Immunol Res 2017; 5:157-169. [PMID: 28073775 DOI: 10.1158/2326-6066.cir-16-0061-t] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2016] [Revised: 12/05/2016] [Accepted: 12/09/2016] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Dasatinib, a broad-range tyrosine kinase inhibitor, induces rapid mobilization of lymphocytes and clonal expansion of cytotoxic cells in leukemia patients. Here, we investigated whether dasatinib could induce beneficial immunomodulatory effects in solid tumor models. The effects on tumor growth and on the immune system were studied in four different syngeneic mouse models (B16.OVA melanoma, 1956 sarcoma, MC38 colon, and 4T1 breast carcinoma). Both peripheral blood (PB) and tumor samples were immunophenotyped during treatment. Although in vitro dasatinib displayed no direct cytotoxicity to B16 melanoma cells, a significant decrease in tumor growth was observed in dasatinib-treated mice compared with vehicle-treated group. Further, dasatinib-treated melanoma-bearing mice had an increased proportion of CD8+ T cells in PB, together with a higher amount of tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells. Dasatinib-mediated antitumor efficacy was abolished when CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were depleted with antibodies. Results were confirmed in sarcoma, colon, and breast cancer models, and in all cases mice treated daily with dasatinib had a significant decrease in tumor growth. Detailed immunophenotyping of tumor tissues with CyTOF indicated that dasatinib had reduced the number of intratumoral regulatory T cells in all tumor types. To conclude, dasatinib is able to slow down the tumor growth of various solid tumor models, which is associated with the favorable blood/tumor T-cell immunomodulation. The assessment of synergistic combinatorial therapies with other immunomodulatory drugs or targeted small-molecule oncokinase inhibitors is warranted in future clinical trials. Cancer Immunol Res; 5(2); 157-69. ©2017 AACR.
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Affiliation(s)
- Can Hekim
- Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Department of Hematology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Mette Ilander
- Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Department of Hematology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Jun Yan
- Bristol-Myers Squibb Research and Development, Princeton, New Jersey
| | - Erin Michaud
- Bristol-Myers Squibb Research and Development, Princeton, New Jersey
| | - Richard Smykla
- Bristol-Myers Squibb Research and Development, Princeton, New Jersey
| | - Markus Vähä-Koskela
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Paula Savola
- Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Department of Hematology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Siri Tähtinen
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Leena Saikko
- Department of Pathology, HUSLAB and Haartman Institute, Helsinki University Central Hospital and University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Akseli Hemminki
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Panu E Kovanen
- Department of Pathology, HUSLAB and Haartman Institute, Helsinki University Central Hospital and University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Kimmo Porkka
- Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Department of Hematology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Francis Y F Lee
- Bristol-Myers Squibb Research and Development, Princeton, New Jersey
| | - Satu Mustjoki
- Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Department of Hematology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland. .,Department of Clinical Chemistry, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
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19
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Parri E, Van Adrichem A, Kaustio M, Kuusanmäki H, Turunen L, Vähä-Koskela M, Wennerberg K. Identifying kinases and phosphatases regulating STAT3 with potential dual anti-cancer effects. Eur J Cancer 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/s0959-8049(16)32811-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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20
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Siurala M, Havunen R, Santos J, Tähtinen S, Saha D, Vähä-Koskela M, Behr M, Nettelbeck DM, Ehrhardt A, Parviainen S, Hemminki A. Abstract B063: Oncolytic adenoviruses armed with tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-2 enable successful adoptive T cell therapy of solid tumors. Cancer Immunol Res 2016. [DOI: 10.1158/2326-6066.imm2016-b063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Adoptive T-cell based therapy can promote dramatic tumor regressions in both pre-clinical tumor models and in patients with CD19+ hematological tumors. However, in the case of human solid tumors, anti-tumor effects are limited by T-cell tolerance and the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Human data from cancer patients treated with oncolytic adenovirus indicated that lymphocytes traffic to tissues following virotherapy. Therefore, we hypothesized to enable successful T-cell therapy by arming viruses with immunostimulatory cytokines which can counteract tumor immunosuppression locally. Previously, we have identified interleukin-2 (IL-2) and Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha (TNFa) as the most promising factors to stimulate the graft used in adoptive T-cell therapy. Also, we have established that our arming approach results in long lasting, high level cytokine expression locally but low levels systemically in vivo and in patients, which is important for safety versus efficacy. One attractive aspect of this approach is the ease of combinations with standard therapies including checkpoint inhibiting antibodies (ongoing experiments). Non-replicating adenovirus vectors coding for murine TNFa and IL-2 were used together with intraperitoneally administered OT-I TCR transgenic T-cells in the murine B16.OVA melanoma model. The best antitumor efficacy was obtained when virally coded IL-2 and TNFa were both used with T-cell transfer. Moreover, IL-2/TNFa virus combination treatment was able to attract (111)In-labelled OT-I cells into B16.OVA tumors in SPECT/CT imaging experiments. In addition to mouse studies, we developed oncolytic adenoviruses expressing human TNFa and/or human IL-2 that were used in combination with intratumoral adoptive transfer of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) in immunocompetent and adenovirus-permissive Syrian hamsters. These viruses improved the efficacy of TIL therapy and protected animals from tumor rechallenge. Furthermore, we have shown that adenovirally delivered IL-2 is superior to systemically administered IL-2 with regard to antitumor efficacy and safety, in both mice and hamsters. TILT Biotherapeutics is in the process of confirming the results in clinical trials.
Citation Format: Mikko Siurala, Riikka Havunen, João Santos, Siri Tähtinen, Dipongkor Saha, Markus Vähä-Koskela, Michael Behr, Dirk M. Nettelbeck, Anja Ehrhardt, Suvi Parviainen, Akseli Hemminki. Oncolytic adenoviruses armed with tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-2 enable successful adoptive T cell therapy of solid tumors [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Second CRI-CIMT-EATI-AACR International Cancer Immunotherapy Conference: Translating Science into Survival; 2016 Sept 25-28; New York, NY. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2016;4(11 Suppl):Abstract nr B063.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Riikka Havunen
- 2Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - João Santos
- 1TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Siri Tähtinen
- 2Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Dipongkor Saha
- 2Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Markus Vähä-Koskela
- 2Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Michael Behr
- 3German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
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Hemminki A, Havunen R, Siurala M, Tähtinen S, Saha D, Vähä-Koskela M, Behr M, Nettelbeck D, Ehrhardt A, Parviainen S. Enabling successful T-cell therapy of solid tumors with oncolytic adenoviruses armed with TNF&agr; and IL-2. Ann Oncol 2016. [DOI: 10.1093/annonc/mdw378.34] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
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22
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Siurala M, Vähä-Koskela M, Havunen R, Tähtinen S, Bramante S, Parviainen S, Hemminki A. 652. Culture and Characterization of Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes of the Syrian Hamster. Mol Ther 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/s1525-0016(16)33460-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022] Open
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23
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Hirvinen M, Capasso C, Guse K, Garofalo M, Vitale A, Ahonen M, Kuryk L, Vähä-Koskela M, Hemminki A, Fortino V, Greco D, Cerullo V. Expression of DAI by an oncolytic vaccinia virus boosts the immunogenicity of the virus and enhances antitumor immunity. Mol Ther Oncolytics 2016; 3:16002. [PMID: 27626058 PMCID: PMC5008257 DOI: 10.1038/mto.2016.2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2015] [Accepted: 12/18/2015] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
In oncolytic virotherapy, the ability of the virus to activate the immune system is a key attribute with regard to long-term antitumor effects. Vaccinia viruses bear one of the strongest oncolytic activities among all oncolytic viruses. However, its capacity for stimulation of antitumor immunity is not optimal, mainly due to its immunosuppressive nature. To overcome this problem, we developed an oncolytic VV that expresses intracellular pattern recognition receptor DNA-dependent activator of IFN-regulatory factors (DAI) to boost the innate immune system and to activate adaptive immune cells in the tumor. We showed that infection with DAI-expressing VV increases expression of several genes related to important immunological pathways. Treatment with DAI-armed VV resulted in significant reduction in the size of syngeneic melanoma tumors in mice. When the mice were rechallenged with the same tumor, DAI-VV-treated mice completely rejected growth of the new tumor, which indicates immunity established against the tumor. We also showed enhanced control of growth of human melanoma tumors and elevated levels of human T-cells in DAI-VV-treated mice humanized with human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. We conclude that expression of DAI by an oncolytic VV is a promising way to amplify the vaccine potency of an oncolytic vaccinia virus to trigger the innate-and eventually the long-lasting adaptive immunity against cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mari Hirvinen
- Laboratory of ImmunoViroTherapy, Centre for Drug Research (CDR), Division of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki , Helsinki, Finland
| | - Cristian Capasso
- Laboratory of ImmunoViroTherapy, Centre for Drug Research (CDR), Division of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki , Helsinki, Finland
| | - Kilian Guse
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki , Helsinki, Finland
| | - Mariangela Garofalo
- Laboratory of ImmunoViroTherapy, Centre for Drug Research (CDR), Division of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki , Helsinki, Finland
| | - Andrea Vitale
- Department of Movement Sciences and Wellness (DiSMEB), University of Naples Parthenope and CEINGE-Biotecnologie Avanzate , Naples, Italy
| | - Marko Ahonen
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki , Helsinki, Finland
| | - Lukasz Kuryk
- Laboratory of ImmunoViroTherapy, Centre for Drug Research (CDR), Division of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; Oncos Therapeutics Ltd., Helsinki, Finland
| | | | - Akseli Hemminki
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; TILT Biotherapeutics, Ltd., Helsinki, Finland; Department of Oncology, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
| | | | - Dario Greco
- Finnish Institute of Occupational Health , Helsinki, Finland
| | - Vincenzo Cerullo
- Laboratory of ImmunoViroTherapy, Centre for Drug Research (CDR), Division of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki , Helsinki, Finland
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Siurala M, Vähä-Koskela M, Havunen R, Tähtinen S, Bramante S, Parviainen S, Mathis JM, Kanerva A, Hemminki A. Syngeneic syrian hamster tumors feature tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes allowing adoptive cell therapy enhanced by oncolytic adenovirus in a replication permissive setting. Oncoimmunology 2016; 5:e1136046. [PMID: 27467954 DOI: 10.1080/2162402x.2015.1136046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [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: 10/22/2015] [Revised: 12/18/2015] [Accepted: 12/18/2015] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Adoptive transfer of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) has shown promising yet sometimes suboptimal results in clinical trials for advanced cancer, underscoring the need for approaches improving efficacy and safety. Six implantable syngeneic tumor cell lines of the Syrian hamster were used to initiate TIL cultures. TIL generated from tumor fragments cultured in human interleukin-2 (IL-2) for 10 d were adoptively transferred into tumor-bearing hamsters with concomitant intratumoral injections of oncolytic adenovirus (Ad5-D24) for the assessment of antitumor efficacy. Pancreatic cancer (HapT1) and melanoma (RPMI 1846) TIL exhibited potent and tumor-specific cytotoxicity in effector-to-target (E/T) assays. MHC Class I blocking abrogated the cell killing of RPMI 1846 TIL, indicating cytotoxic CD8(+) T-cell activity. When TIL were combined with Ad5-D24 in vitro, HapT1 tumor cell killing was significantly enhanced over single agents. In vivo, the intratumoral administration of HapT1 TIL and Ad5-D24 resulted in improved tumor growth control compared with either treatment alone. Additionally, splenocytes derived from animals treated with the combination of Ad5-D24 and TIL killed autologous tumor cells more efficiently than monotherapy-derived splenocytes, suggesting that systemic antitumor immunity was induced. For the first time, TIL of the Syrian hamster have been cultured, characterized and used therapeutically together with oncolytic adenovirus for enhancing the efficacy of TIL therapy. Our results support human translation of oncolytic adenovirus as an enabling technology for adoptive T-cell therapy of solid tumors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mikko Siurala
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Markus Vähä-Koskela
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki , Helsinki, Finland
| | - Riikka Havunen
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki , Helsinki, Finland
| | - Siri Tähtinen
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki , Helsinki, Finland
| | - Simona Bramante
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki , Helsinki, Finland
| | - Suvi Parviainen
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd, Helsinki, Finland
| | - J Michael Mathis
- Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, Louisiana State University , Baton Rouge, LA, USA
| | - Anna Kanerva
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Helsinki University Central Hospital (HUCH), Helsinki, Finland
| | - Akseli Hemminki
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd, Helsinki, Finland; Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
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Tähtinen S, Grönberg-Vähä-Koskela S, Lumen D, Merisalo-Soikkeli M, Siurala M, Airaksinen AJ, Vähä-Koskela M, Hemminki A. Oncolytic adenovirus improves anti-tumor efficacy of adoptive T cell therapy by breaking tumor-induced immunosuppression and peripheral tolerance. J Immunother Cancer 2015. [PMCID: PMC4649355 DOI: 10.1186/2051-1426-3-s2-p315] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
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26
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Tähtinen S, Grönberg-Vähä-Koskela S, Lumen D, Merisalo-Soikkeli M, Siurala M, Airaksinen A, Vähä-Koskela M, Hemminki A. Combination immunotherapy with oncolytic adenovirus and adoptive T-cell transfer leads to systemic anti-tumor immunity and enhanced therapeutic efficacy in a preclinical melanoma model. Ann Oncol 2015. [DOI: 10.1093/annonc/mdv514.25] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
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27
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Parviainen S, Havunen R, Siurala M, Tähtinen S, Saha D, Vähä-Koskela M, Behr M, Nettelbeck D, Ehrhardt A, Hemminki A. Oncolytic adenoviruses armed with TNFα and IL-2 enable successful adoptive T-cell therapy of solid tumors. Ann Oncol 2015. [DOI: 10.1093/annonc/mdv513.02] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
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28
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Siurala M, Havunen R, Bramante S, Saha D, Tähtinen S, Vähä-Koskela M, Hemminki A. Abstract B18: Adoptive T-cell transfer combined with murine cytokine-armed adenoviruses for the treatment of melanoma. Cancer Immunol Res 2015. [DOI: 10.1158/2326-6074.tumimm14-b18] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Adoptive cell transfer (ACT) has shown promising results in clinical trials for melanoma, with response rates ranging from 40% to 72%. We aimed to enhance the efficacy of ACT by coupling it with adenoviruses coding for immunostimulatory cytokines. The non-replicating adenoviruses that were constructed (Ad5-CMV-mIFNg, Ad5-CMV-mIL2, Ad5-CMV-mIFNb and Ad5-CMV-mTNFa) were confirmed to produce biologically active murine cytokines in vitro. These viruses were then used in combination with adoptive transfer of OT-1 TCR transgenic T-cells to treat C57BL/6 mice bearing B16-OVA melanoma tumors. The animals were administered intraperitoneally with 1.5 x 106 CD8+-enriched OT-1 cells with or without intratumoral injections of cytokine-coding adenoviruses (1 x 109 viral particles/tumor). Combination treatment with Ad5-CMV-mIL2 and OT-1 resulted in statistically significant antitumor efficacy when compared with either monotherapy and untreated control (combination vs. virus, p=0.026; combination vs. OT1, p=0.003; combination vs. mock, p<0.001). Similar results were obtained with other cytokine-coding virus and OT-1 combinations, except for mIFNb. In further experiments a triple combination of Ad5-CMV-mIL2 + Ad5-CMV-mTNFa (1:1 ratio) and OT-1 T-cells were used to treat B16-OVA; improved antitumor efficacy was observed with the triple combination over dual agent therapies (triple combination vs. Ad5-CMV-mIL2 + OT-1, p=0.001; triple combination vs. Ad5-CMV-mTNFa + OT-1, p=0.049). In summary, these results support the further development of a novel immunotherapeutic approach for the treatment of melanoma.
Citation Format: Mikko Siurala, Riikka Havunen, Simona Bramante, Dipongkor Saha, Siri Tähtinen, Markus Vähä-Koskela, Akseli Hemminki. Adoptive T-cell transfer combined with murine cytokine-armed adenoviruses for the treatment of melanoma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy: A New Chapter; December 1-4, 2014; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2015;3(10 Suppl):Abstract nr B18.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mikko Siurala
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Riikka Havunen
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Simona Bramante
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Dipongkor Saha
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Siri Tähtinen
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Markus Vähä-Koskela
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Akseli Hemminki
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
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Tähtinen S, Grönberg-Vähä-Koskela S, Lumen D, Siurala M, Airaksinen AJ, Vähä-Koskela M, Hemminki A. Abstract B21: Combination of adenovirus and adoptive T-cell therapy breaks tumor tolerance by recruiting immune cells to and promoting their activity in the tumor. Cancer Immunol Res 2015. [DOI: 10.1158/2326-6074.tumimm14-b21] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Background: Despite the fast growing rate in the development of novel adoptive T-cell therapies, the clinical benefit in established solid tumors has remained modest. Roadblocks to effective immune attack by infiltrating tumor-specific T-cells include several immune evasion mechanisms, which contribute to tumor tolerance. Oncolytic virotherapy on the other hand is the use of cancer cell specific, conditionally replicative viruses in the treatment of cancer. Oncolytic virotherapy has been suggested to enhance epitope spreading by direct oncolysis of tumor cells, leading to enhanced antigen presentation by dendritic cells and increased immunogenicity of the established tumor by providing virus mediated danger signal in the form of pathogen-associated molecular patterns, which are efficiently recognized by the immune system. Here, we studied the combination of these two established forms of immunotherapy in a highly resistant and poorly immunogenic B16.OVA mouse melanoma model.
Methods: Immunocompetent B16.OVA bearing C57BL/6 female mice were adoptively transferred with CD8a+ enriched, OVA-specific OT-I lymphocytes and treated with intratumoral injections 5/3-fiber chimeric adenovirus (diluted in saline) on six consecutive days. Tumor growth of mice was monitored every 2-3 days by using electronic calipers. Mice were sacrificed on day 14 post-transfer and immune composition of harvested tumors was analyzed by flow cytometry.
Results: Following adoptive transfer of OT-I lymphocytes, superior tumor growth control was observed in adenovirus-treated mice compared to control mice, even in the absence of active oncolysis. Significant increase in infiltration of CD45+ leukocytes, CD8+ lymphocytes and F4/80+ macrophages was seen adenovirus-treated tumors suggesting enhanced tumor immunogenicity. Pro-inflammatory tumor microenvironment mediated by adenovirus infection led to expression of co-stimulatory signals on CD11c+ antigen presenting cells and subsequent activation of T-cells, thus breaking the tumor-induced peripheral tolerance of T-cells. Moreover, epitope spreading in the form of endogenous anti-melanoma T-cells was detected in the combination treated mice indicating that the dual approach can lead to systemic anti-tumor immunity.
Conclusions: Treatment with adenovirus can overcome resistance of B16.OVA murine melanoma tumors to T-cell therapy by recruitment and stimulation of tumor-infiltrating immune cells, thus improving the efficacy of adoptive T-cell therapy in solid tumors.
Citation Format: Siri Tähtinen, Susanna Grönberg-Vähä-Koskela, Dave Lumen, Mikko Siurala, Anu J. Airaksinen, Markus Vähä-Koskela, Akseli Hemminki. Combination of adenovirus and adoptive T-cell therapy breaks tumor tolerance by recruiting immune cells to and promoting their activity in the tumor. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy: A New Chapter; December 1-4, 2014; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2015;3(10 Suppl):Abstract nr B21.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siri Tähtinen
- 1Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland,
| | - Susanna Grönberg-Vähä-Koskela
- 1Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland,
| | - Dave Lumen
- 2Laboratory of Radiochemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland,
| | | | - Anu J. Airaksinen
- 2Laboratory of Radiochemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland,
| | - Markus Vähä-Koskela
- 1Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland,
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Tähtinen S, Grönberg-Vähä-Koskela S, Lumen D, Merisalo-Soikkeli M, Siurala M, Airaksinen AJ, Vähä-Koskela M, Hemminki A. Adenovirus Improves the Efficacy of Adoptive T-cell Therapy by Recruiting Immune Cells to and Promoting Their Activity at the Tumor. Cancer Immunol Res 2015; 3:915-25. [PMID: 25977260 DOI: 10.1158/2326-6066.cir-14-0220-t] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2014] [Accepted: 05/07/2015] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Despite the rapid progress in the development of novel adoptive T-cell therapies, the clinical benefits in treatment of established tumors have remained modest. Several immune evasion mechanisms hinder T-cell entry into tumors and their activity within the tumor. Of note, oncolytic adenoviruses are intrinsically immunogenic due to inherent pathogen-associated molecular patterns. Here, we studied the capacity of adenovirus to overcome resistance of chicken ovalbumin-expressing B16.OVA murine melanoma tumors to adoptive ovalbumin-specific CD8(+) T-cell (OT-I) therapy. Following intraperitoneal transfer of polyclonally activated OT-I lymphocytes, control of tumor growth was superior in mice given intratumoral adenovirus compared with control mice, even in the absence of oncolytic virus replication. Preexisting antiviral immunity against serotype 5 did not hinder the therapeutic efficacy of the combination treatment. Intratumoral adenovirus injection was associated with an increase in proinflammatory cytokines, CD45(+) leukocytes, CD8(+) lymphocytes, and F4/80(+) macrophages, suggesting enhanced tumor immunogenicity. The proinflammatory effects of adenovirus on the tumor microenvironment led to expression of costimulatory signals on CD11c(+) antigen-presenting cells and subsequent activation of T cells, thus breaking the tumor-induced peripheral tolerance. An increased number of CD8(+) T cells specific for endogenous tumor antigens TRP-2 and gp100 was detected in combination-treated mice, indicating epitope spreading. Moreover, the majority of virus/T-cell-treated mice rejected the challenge of parental B16.F10 tumors, suggesting that systemic antitumor immunity was induced. In summary, we provide proof-of-mechanism data on combining adoptive T-cell therapy and adenovirotherapy for the treatment of cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siri Tähtinen
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Susanna Grönberg-Vähä-Koskela
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Dave Lumen
- Laboratory of Radiochemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Maiju Merisalo-Soikkeli
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Mikko Siurala
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Anu J Airaksinen
- Laboratory of Radiochemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. Centre for Drug Research, Division of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Markus Vähä-Koskela
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Akseli Hemminki
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd, Helsinki, Finland. Department of Oncology, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
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31
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Taipale K, Liikanen I, Juhila J, Karioja-Kallio A, Oksanen M, Turkki R, Linder N, Lundin J, Ristimäki A, Kanerva A, Koski A, Joensuu T, Vähä-Koskela M, Hemminki A. T-cell subsets in peripheral blood and tumors of patients treated with oncolytic adenoviruses. Mol Ther 2015; 23:964-973. [PMID: 25655312 PMCID: PMC4427873 DOI: 10.1038/mt.2015.17] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2014] [Accepted: 01/06/2015] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
The quality of the antitumor immune response is decisive when developing new immunotherapies for cancer. Oncolytic adenoviruses cause a potent immunogenic stimulus and arming them with costimulatory molecules reshapes the immune response further. We evaluated peripheral blood T-cell subsets of 50 patients with refractory solid tumors undergoing treatment with oncolytic adenovirus. These data were compared to changes in antiviral and antitumor T cells, treatment efficacy, overall survival, and T-cell subsets in pre- and post-treatment tumor biopsies. Treatment caused a significant (P < 0.0001) shift in T-cell subsets in blood, characterized by a proportional increase of CD8(+) cells, and decrease of CD4(+) cells. Concomitant treatment with cyclophosphamide and temozolomide resulted in less CD4(+) decrease (P = 0.041) than cyclophosphamide only. Interestingly, we saw a correlation between T-cell changes in peripheral blood and the tumor site. This correlation was positive for CD8(+) and inverse for CD4(+) cells. These findings give insight to the interconnections between peripheral blood and tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) populations regarding oncolytic virotherapy. In particular, our data suggest that induction of T-cell response is not sufficient for clinical response in the context of immunosuppressive tumors, and that peripheral blood T cells have a complicated and potentially misleading relationship with TILs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristian Taipale
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Ilkka Liikanen
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | | | | | - Minna Oksanen
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Riku Turkki
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Nina Linder
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Johan Lundin
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Ari Ristimäki
- Department of Pathology, HUSLAB and Haartman Institute, Helsinki University Central Hospital and Genome-Scale Biology, Research Programs Unit, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Anna Kanerva
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Anniina Koski
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | | | - Markus Vähä-Koskela
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Akseli Hemminki
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd., Helsinki, Finland.
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32
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Bramante S, Kaufmann JK, Veckman V, Liikanen I, Nettelbeck DM, Hemminki O, Vassilev L, Cerullo V, Oksanen M, Heiskanen R, Joensuu T, Kanerva A, Pesonen S, Matikainen S, Vähä-Koskela M, Koski A, Hemminki A. Treatment of melanoma with a serotype 5/3 chimeric oncolytic adenovirus coding for GM-CSF: Results in vitro, in rodents and in humans. Int J Cancer 2015; 137:1775-83. [PMID: 25821063 DOI: 10.1002/ijc.29536] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [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: 09/17/2014] [Accepted: 02/20/2015] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Metastatic melanoma is refractory to irradiation and chemotherapy, but amenable to immunological approaches such as immune-checkpoint-inhibiting antibodies or adoptive cell therapies. Oncolytic virus replication is an immunogenic phenomenon, and viruses can be armed with immunostimulatory molecules. Therefore, oncolytic immuno-virotherapy of malignant melanoma is an appealing approach, which was recently validated by a positive phase 3 trial. We investigated the potency of oncolytic adenovirus Ad5/3-D24-GMCSF on a panel of melanoma cell lines and animal models, and summarized the melanoma-specific human data from the Advanced Therapy Access Program (ATAP). The virus effectively eradicated human melanoma cells in vitro and subcutaneous SK-MEL-28 melanoma xenografts in nude mice when combined with low-dose cyclophosphamide. Furthermore, virally-expressed granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) stimulated the differentiation of human monocytes into macrophages. In contrast to human cells, RPMI 1846 hamster melanoma cells exhibited no response to oncolytic viruses and the chimeric 5/3 fiber failed to increase the efficacy of transduction, suggesting limited utility of the hamster model in the context of viruses with this capsid. In ATAP, treatments appeared safe and well-tolerated. Four out of nine melanoma patients treated were evaluable for possible therapy benefit with modified RECIST criteria: one patient had minor response, two had stable disease, and one had progressive disease. Two patients were alive at 559 and 2,149 days after treatment. Ad5/3-D24-GMCSF showed promising efficacy in preclinical studies and possible antitumor activity in melanoma patients refractory to other forms of therapy. This data supports continuing the clinical development of oncolytic adenoviruses for treatment of malignant melanoma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simona Bramante
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory and Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Johanna K Kaufmann
- Oncolytic Adenovirus Group, German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum [DKFZ]), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Ville Veckman
- Unit of Systems Toxicology, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Topeliuksenkatu 41 a, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Ilkka Liikanen
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory and Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Dirk M Nettelbeck
- Oncolytic Adenovirus Group, German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum [DKFZ]), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Otto Hemminki
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory and Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | | | - Vincenzo Cerullo
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory and Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland.,Laboratory of Immunovirotherapy, Division of Biopharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Minna Oksanen
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory and Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | | | | | - Anna Kanerva
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory and Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland.,Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Sari Pesonen
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory and Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Sampsa Matikainen
- Unit of Systems Toxicology, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Topeliuksenkatu 41 a, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Markus Vähä-Koskela
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory and Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Anniina Koski
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory and Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Akseli Hemminki
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory and Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland.,TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd., Helsinki, Finland
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33
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Parviainen S, Autio K, Vähä-Koskela M, Guse K, Pesonen S, Rosol TJ, Zhao F, Hemminki A. Incomplete but infectious vaccinia virions are produced in the absence of oncolysis in feline SCCF1 cells. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0120496. [PMID: 25799430 PMCID: PMC4370597 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0120496] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2014] [Accepted: 01/23/2015] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Vaccinia virus is a large, enveloped virus of the poxvirus family. It has broad tropism and typically virus replication culminates in accumulation and lytic release of intracellular mature virus (IMV), the most abundant form of infectious virus, as well as release by budding of extracellular enveloped virus (EEV). Vaccinia viruses have been modified to replicate selectively in cancer cells and clinically tested as oncolytic agents. During preclinical screening of relevant cancer targets for a recombinant Western Reserve strain deleted for both copies of the thymidine kinase and vaccinia growth factor genes, we noticed that confluent monolayers of SCCF1 cat squamous carcinoma cells were not destroyed even after prolonged infection. Interestingly, although SCCF1 cells were not killed, they continuously secreted virus into the cell culture supernatant. To investigate this finding further, we performed detailed studies by electron microscopy. Both intracellular and secreted virions showed morphological abnormalities on ultrastructural inspection, suggesting compromised maturation and morphogenesis of vaccinia virus in SCCF1 cells. Our data suggest that SCCF1 cells produce a morphologically abnormal virus which is nevertheless infective, providing new information on the virus-host cell interactions and intracellular biology of vaccinia virus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Suvi Parviainen
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Karoliina Autio
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Equine and Small Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Markus Vähä-Koskela
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Kilian Guse
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Sari Pesonen
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Thomas J. Rosol
- Department of Veterinary Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, The United States of America
| | - Fang Zhao
- Advanced Microscopy Unit, Department of Pathology, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Akseli Hemminki
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- * E-mail:
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34
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Havunen R, Siurala M, Parviainen S, Bramante S, Saha D, Tähtinen S, Vähä-Koskela M, Behr M, Nettelbeck D, Ehrhardt A, Hemminki A. Improving adoptive T cell therapy with adenoviruse armed with TNF-α and IL-2. J Immunother Cancer 2015. [PMCID: PMC4645510 DOI: 10.1186/2051-1426-3-s2-p41] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
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35
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Autio K, Knuuttila A, Kipar A, Pesonen S, Guse K, Parviainen S, Rajamäki M, Laitinen-Vapaavuori O, Vähä-Koskela M, Kanerva A, Hemminki A. Safety and biodistribution of a double-deleted oncolytic vaccinia virus encoding CD40 ligand in laboratory Beagles. Mol Ther Oncolytics 2014; 1:14002. [PMID: 27119092 PMCID: PMC4782937 DOI: 10.1038/mto.2014.2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2014] [Accepted: 05/26/2014] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
We evaluated adverse events, biodistribution and shedding of oncolytic vaccinia virus encoding CD40 ligand in two Beagles, in preparation for a phase 1 trial in canine cancer patients. Dog 1 received one dose of vaccinia virus and was euthanized 24 hours afterwards, while dog 2 received virus four times once weekly and was euthanized 7 days after that. Dogs were monitored for adverse events and underwent a detailed postmortem examination. Blood, saliva, urine, feces, and organs were collected for virus detection. Dog 1 had mild fever and lethargy while dog 2 experienced a possible seizure 5.5 hours after first virus administration. Viral DNA declined quickly in the blood after virus administration in both dogs but was still detectable 1 week later by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Only samples taken directly after virus infusion contained infectious virus. Small amounts of viral DNA, but no infectious virus, were detected in a few saliva and urine samples. Necropsies did not reveal any relevant pathological changes and virus DNA was detected mainly in the spleen. The dogs in the study did not have cancer, and thus adverse events could be more common and viral load higher in dogs with tumors which allow viral amplification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karoliina Autio
- Department of Equine and Small Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Anna Knuuttila
- Finnish Centre for Laboratory Animal Pathology and Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Anja Kipar
- Finnish Centre for Laboratory Animal Pathology and Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Sari Pesonen
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Kilian Guse
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Suvi Parviainen
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Minna Rajamäki
- Department of Equine and Small Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Outi Laitinen-Vapaavuori
- Department of Equine and Small Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Markus Vähä-Koskela
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Anna Kanerva
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Helsinki University Central Hospital, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Akseli Hemminki
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
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Abstract
The therapeutic efficacy of oncolytic viruses including adenovirus has been thought to depend mostly on direct viral destruction of tumor cells. However, this view has changed with the discovery that oncolysis can also induce innate and antigen-specific adaptive immunity against the tumor. Here we summarize our findings from cancer patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vincenzo Cerullo
- Laboratory of Immunovirotherapy; University of Helsinki; Helsinki, Finland ; Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Molecular Cancer Biology Program & Transplantation Laboratory & Haartman Institute; University of Helsinki; Helsinki, Finland
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37
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Autio K, Knuuttila A, Kipar A, Ahonen M, Parviainen S, Diaconu I, Kanerva A, Hakonen T, Vähä-Koskela M, Hemminki A. Anti-tumour activity of oncolytic Western Reserve vaccinia viruses in canine tumour cell lines, xenografts, and fresh tumour biopsies. Vet Comp Oncol 2014; 14:395-408. [PMID: 25302859 DOI: 10.1111/vco.12119] [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] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2014] [Revised: 08/29/2014] [Accepted: 09/09/2014] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Cancer is one of the most common reasons for death in dogs. One promising approach is oncolytic virotherapy. We assessed the oncolytic effect of genetically modified vaccinia viruses in canine cancer cells, in freshly excised tumour biopsies, and in mice harbouring canine tumour xenografts. Tumour transduction efficacy was assessed using virus expressing luciferase or fluorescent marker genes and oncolysis was quantified by a colorimetric cell viability assay. Oncolytic efficacy in vivo was evaluated in a nude mouse xenograft model. Vaccinia virus was shown to infect most tested canine cancer cell lines and primary surgical tumour tissues. Virus infection significantly reduced tumour growth in the xenograft model. Oncolytic vaccinia virus has antitumour effects against canine cancer cells and experimental tumours and is able to replicate in freshly excised patient tumour tissue. Our results suggest that oncolytic vaccinia virus may offer an effective treatment option for otherwise incurable canine tumours.
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Affiliation(s)
- K Autio
- Department of Equine and Small Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.,Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - A Knuuttila
- Finnish Centre for Laboratory Animal Pathology and Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - A Kipar
- Finnish Centre for Laboratory Animal Pathology and Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - M Ahonen
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - S Parviainen
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - I Diaconu
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - A Kanerva
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.,Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Helsinki University Central Hospital, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - T Hakonen
- Oncos Therapeutics Ltd, Helsinki, Finland
| | - M Vähä-Koskela
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - A Hemminki
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.,TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd, Helsinki, Finland
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38
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Hekim C, Ilander M, Vähä-Koskela M, Savola P, Tähtinen S, Hemminki A, Porkka K, Mustjoki S. Abstract 2587: Dasatinib-induced reduction of tumor growth is accompanied by the changes in the immune profile in melanoma B16.OVA mouse model. Cancer Res 2014. [DOI: 10.1158/1538-7445.am2014-2587] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Dasatinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor used in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia, has been shown to exert immunomodulatory effects in addition to direct oncokinase inhibition. Recently, we observed that dasatinib induces a rapid (within one hour after oral administration) and marked mobilization of lymphocytes (up to 8-fold increase in lymphocyte count), which closely follows the drug plasma concentration. In addition, in a subgroup of patients a clonal expansion of large granular lymphocytes occurs, which is correlated with good therapy response.
As dasatinib-induced immunomodulatory effects are not leukemia specific, we aimed to exploit this activity to slow down or inhibit the growth of a syngeneic murine melanoma model and to characterize in detail the anti-tumor immune responses.
Ovalbumin expressing murine melanoma cell line B16.OVA was grown under the skin of immunocompetent mice. The mice (n=6/group) were treated daily i.g. either with 30 mg/kg dasatinib or vehicle only. Blood was collected before tumor transplantation, before treatment, and on treatment days 4, 7 and 10. Tumor volumes were measured manually and specific growth rate was calculated based on the first and the last day of the treatment. In addition to white blood cell differential counts, immunophenotyping of blood and tumor homogenate was done by flow cytometry using antibodies against CD45.1, CD3, CD4, CD8b and NK1.1, and SIINFEKL-pentamer to detect B16.OVA-specific cells. To assess the functional properties of lymphocytes, we used antibodies against immune checkpoint inhibitors CTLA-4 and PD-1, and a degranulation marker CD107.
On the 10th day of treatment, the tumor volumes were smaller in dasatinib group compared to control group, and there was a significant decrease in the tumor growth rate (0.06 vs. 0.18, p=0.01). Furthermore, dasatinib treated mice had increased proportion of CD8+ cells in the circulation (21% vs. 14%, p=0.04) and the CD4/CD8 ratio was significantly decreased (1.39 vs. 1.52, p= 0.04). During the tumor growth the mean CTLA-4 expression on CD8+ cells increased from 1.2% to 9% in the control group, whereas, in dasatinib group the increase was more modest (1.2% to 5.7%). Interestingly, 80% of tumor infiltrating CD8+ cells expressed PD1 antigen compared to <5% of PD1 positive CD8+ cells in the peripheral blood suggesting lymphocyte anergy or exhaustion induced by tumor cells.
To conclude, dasatinib treatment slowed down the tumor growth in B16.OVA mouse model, which could be associated with the immunomodulatory effects of dasatinib. However, combinatorial treatment regimens may be needed as dasatinib is not able to fully break the immune cell anergy induced by tumor cells.
Citation Format: Can Hekim, Mette Ilander, Markus Vähä-Koskela, Paula Savola, Siri Tähtinen, Akseli Hemminki, Kimmo Porkka, Satu Mustjoki. Dasatinib-induced reduction of tumor growth is accompanied by the changes in the immune profile in melanoma B16.OVA mouse model. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 2587. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-2587
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Affiliation(s)
- Can Hekim
- 1Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Department of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Mette Ilander
- 1Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Department of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Markus Vähä-Koskela
- 2Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Transplantation Laboratory & Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Paula Savola
- 1Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Department of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Siri Tähtinen
- 2Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Transplantation Laboratory & Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Akseli Hemminki
- 2Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Transplantation Laboratory & Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Kimmo Porkka
- 1Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Department of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Satu Mustjoki
- 1Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Department of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
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39
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Parviainen S, Ahonen M, Diaconu I, Kipar A, Siurala M, Vähä-Koskela M, Kanerva A, Cerullo V, Hemminki A. GMCSF-armed vaccinia virus induces an antitumor immune response. Int J Cancer 2014; 136:1065-72. [PMID: 25042001 DOI: 10.1002/ijc.29068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [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: 02/13/2014] [Accepted: 06/23/2014] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Oncolytic Western Reserve strain vaccinia virus selective for epidermal growth factor receptor pathway mutations and tumor-associated hypermetabolism was armed with human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GMCSF) and a tdTomato fluorophore. As the assessment of immunological responses to human transgenes is challenging in the most commonly used animal models, we used immunocompetent Syrian golden hamsters, known to be sensitive to human GMCSF and semipermissive to vaccinia virus. Efficacy was initially tested in vitro on various human and hamster cell lines and oncolytic potency of transgene-carrying viruses was similar to unarmed virus. The hGMCSF-encoding virus was able to completely eradicate subcutaneous pancreatic tumors in hamsters, and to fully protect the animals from subsequent rechallenge with the same tumor. Induction of specific antitumor immunity was also shown by ex vivo co-culture experiments with hamster splenocytes. In addition, histological examination revealed increased infiltration of neutrophils and macrophages in GMCSF-virus-treated tumors. These findings help clarify the mechanism of action of GMCSF-armed vaccinia viruses undergoing clinical trials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Suvi Parviainen
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
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40
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Siurala M, Bramante S, Vassilev L, Hirvinen M, Parviainen S, Tähtinen S, Guse K, Cerullo V, Kanerva A, Kipar A, Vähä-Koskela M, Hemminki A. Oncolytic adenovirus and doxorubicin-based chemotherapy results in synergistic antitumor activity against soft-tissue sarcoma. Int J Cancer 2014; 136:945-54. [DOI: 10.1002/ijc.29048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2014] [Revised: 05/15/2014] [Accepted: 05/27/2014] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Mikko Siurala
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory; Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki; Helsinki Finland
| | - Simona Bramante
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory; Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki; Helsinki Finland
| | | | - Mari Hirvinen
- Laboratory of Immunovirotherapy; Division of Biopharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki; Helsinki Finland
| | - Suvi Parviainen
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory; Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki; Helsinki Finland
| | - Siri Tähtinen
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory; Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki; Helsinki Finland
| | - Kilian Guse
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory; Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki; Helsinki Finland
| | - Vincenzo Cerullo
- Laboratory of Immunovirotherapy; Division of Biopharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki; Helsinki Finland
| | - Anna Kanerva
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory; Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki; Helsinki Finland
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology; Helsinki University Central Hospital; Helsinki Finland
| | - Anja Kipar
- Finnish Centre for Laboratory Animal Pathology; Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki; Helsinki Finland
- Department of Infection Biology; Institute of Global Health, School of Veterinary Science, University of Liverpool; Liverpool United Kingdom
| | - Markus Vähä-Koskela
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory; Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki; Helsinki Finland
| | - Akseli Hemminki
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory; Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki; Helsinki Finland
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41
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Hemminki O, Immonen R, Närväinen J, Kipar A, Paasonen J, Jokivarsi KT, Yli-Ollila H, Soininen P, Partanen K, Joensuu T, Parvianen S, Pesonen SK, Koski A, Vähä-Koskela M, Cerullo V, Pesonen S, Gröhn OH, Hemminki A. In vivo magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy identifies oncolytic adenovirus responders. Int J Cancer 2013; 134:2878-90. [PMID: 24248808 DOI: 10.1002/ijc.28615] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [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: 07/11/2013] [Revised: 09/26/2013] [Accepted: 10/10/2013] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
At present, it is not possible to reliably identify patients who will benefit from oncolytic virus treatments. Conventional modalities such as computed tomography (CT), which measure tumor size, are unreliable owing to inflammation-induced tumor swelling. We hypothesized that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopy (MRS) might be useful in this regard. However, little previous data exist and neither oncolytic adenovirus nor immunocompetent models have been assessed by MRS. Here, we provide evidence that in T2-weighted MRI a hypointense core area, consistent with coagulative necrosis, develops in immunocompetent Syrian hamster carcinomas that respond to oncolytic adenovirus treatment. The same phenomenon was observed in a neuroblastoma patient while he responded to the treatment. With relapse at a later stage, however, the tumor of this patient became moderately hyperintense. We found that MRS of taurine, choline and unsaturated fatty acids can be useful early indicators of response and provide detailed information about tumor growth and degeneration. In hamsters, calprotectin-positive inflammatory cells (heterophils and macrophages) were found in abundance; particularly surrounding necrotic areas in carcinomas and T cells were significantly increased in sarcomas, when these had been treated with a granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor-producing virus, suggesting a possible link between oncolysis, necrosis (seen as a hypointense core in MRI) and/or immune response. Our study indicates that both MRI and MRS could be useful in the estimation of oncolytic adenovirus efficacy at early time points after treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- O Hemminki
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group Transplantation Laboratory & Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
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42
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Parviainen S, Ahonen M, Diaconu I, Hirvinen M, Karttunen Å, Vähä-Koskela M, Hemminki A, Cerullo V. CD40 ligand and tdTomato-armed vaccinia virus for induction of antitumor immune response and tumor imaging. Gene Ther 2013; 21:195-204. [PMID: 24305418 DOI: 10.1038/gt.2013.73] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2013] [Revised: 10/02/2013] [Accepted: 10/11/2013] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Oncolytic vaccinia virus is an attractive platform for immunotherapy. Oncolysis releases tumor antigens and provides co-stimulatory danger signals. However, arming the virus can improve efficacy further. CD40 ligand (CD40L, CD154) can induce apoptosis of tumor cells and it also triggers several immune mechanisms. One of these is a T-helper type 1 (Th1) response that leads to activation of cytotoxic T-cells and reduction of immune suppression. Therefore, we constructed an oncolytic vaccinia virus expressing hCD40L (vvdd-hCD40L-tdTomato), which in addition features a cDNA expressing the tdTomato fluorochrome for detection of virus, potentially important for biosafety evaluation. We show effective expression of functional CD40L both in vitro and in vivo. In a xenograft model of bladder carcinoma sensitive to CD40L treatment, we show that growth of tumors was significantly inhibited by the oncolysis and apoptosis following both intravenous and intratumoral administration. In a CD40-negative model, CD40L expression did not add potency to vaccinia oncolysis. Tumors treated with vvdd-mCD40L-tdtomato showed enhanced efficacy in a syngenic mouse model and induced recruitment of antigen-presenting cells and lymphocytes at the tumor site. In summary, oncolytic vaccinia virus coding for CD40L mediates multiple antitumor effects including oncolysis, apoptosis and induction of Th1 type T-cell responses.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Parviainen
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - M Ahonen
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - I Diaconu
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - M Hirvinen
- Laboratory of Immunovirotherapy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Division of Biopharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki Finland
| | - Å Karttunen
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - M Vähä-Koskela
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - A Hemminki
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Department of Pathology and Transplantation Laboratory, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - V Cerullo
- Laboratory of Immunovirotherapy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Division of Biopharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki Finland
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43
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Cerullo V, Koski A, Vähä-Koskela M, Hemminki A. Chapter eight--Oncolytic adenoviruses for cancer immunotherapy: data from mice, hamsters, and humans. Adv Cancer Res 2013; 115:265-318. [PMID: 23021247 DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-12-398342-8.00008-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Adenovirus is one of the most commonly used vectors for gene therapy and two products have already been approved for treatment of cancer in China (Gendicine(R) and Oncorine(R)). An intriguing aspect of oncolytic adenoviruses is that by their very nature they potently stimulate multiple arms of the immune system. Thus, combined tumor killing via oncolysis and inherent immunostimulatory properties in fact make these viruses in situ tumor vaccines. When further engineered to express cytokines, chemokines, tumor-associated antigens, or other immunomodulatory elements, they have been shown in various preclinical models to induce antigen-specific effector and memory responses, resulting both in full therapeutic cures and even induction of life-long tumor immunity. Here, we review the state of the art of oncolytic adenovirus, in the context of their capability to stimulate innate and adaptive arms of the immune system and finally how we can modify these viruses to direct the immune response toward cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vincenzo Cerullo
- Laboratory of Immunovirotherapy, Division of Biopharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
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Ylösmäki E, Lavilla-Alonso S, Jäämaa S, Vähä-Koskela M, af Hällström T, Hemminki A, Arola J, Mäkisalo H, Saksela K. MicroRNA-mediated suppression of oncolytic adenovirus replication in human liver. PLoS One 2013; 8:e54506. [PMID: 23349911 PMCID: PMC3551754 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0054506] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2012] [Accepted: 12/12/2012] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are important and ubiquitous regulators of gene expression that can suppress their target genes by translational inhibition as well as mRNA destruction. Cell type-specific miRNA expression patterns have been successfully exploited for targeting the expression of experimental and therapeutic gene constructs, for example to reduce pathogenic effects of cancer virotherapy in normal tissues. In order to avoid liver damage associated with systemic or intrahepatic delivery of oncolytic adenoviruses we have introduced the concept of suppressing adenovirus replication in hepatic cells by inserting target elements for the liver-specific miR122 into the viral genome. Here we show using ex vivo cultured tissue specimens that six perfectly complementary miR122 target sites in the 3′ untranslated region of the viral E1A gene are sufficient in the absence of any other genetic modifications to prevent productive replication of serotype 5 adenovirus (Ad5) in normal human liver. This modification did not compromise the replicative capacity of the modified virus in cancer tissue derived from a colon carcinoma liver metastasis or its oncolytic potency in a human lung cancer xenograft mouse model. Unlike wild-type Ad5, the modified virus did not result in increased serum levels of liver enzymes in infected mice. These results provide a strong preclinical proof of concept for the use of miR122 target sites for reducing the risk of liver damage caused by oncolytic adenoviruses, and suggest that ectopic miR122 target elements should be considered as an additional safety measure included in any therapeutic virus or viral vector posing potential hazard to the liver.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erkko Ylösmäki
- Department of Virology, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki and HUSLAB, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Sergio Lavilla-Alonso
- Department of Virology, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki and HUSLAB, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Sari Jäämaa
- Department of Virology, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki and HUSLAB, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
- Molecular Cancer Biology Program, Biomedicum Helsinki, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Markus Vähä-Koskela
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Molecular Cancer Biology Program and Transplantation Laboratory, University of Helsinki, Helsinki
| | - Taija af Hällström
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Akseli Hemminki
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Molecular Cancer Biology Program and Transplantation Laboratory, University of Helsinki, Helsinki
| | - Johanna Arola
- Department of Pathology, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki and HUSLAB, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Heikki Mäkisalo
- Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Kalle Saksela
- Department of Virology, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki and HUSLAB, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
- * E-mail:
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Evgin L, Vähä-Koskela M, Rintoul J, Falls T, Le Boeuf F, Barrett JW, Bell JC, Stanford MM. Potent oncolytic activity of raccoonpox virus in the absence of natural pathogenicity. Mol Ther 2010; 18:896-902. [PMID: 20160706 DOI: 10.1038/mt.2010.14] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
A number of oncolytic virus (OV) candidates currently in clinical trials are human viruses that have been engineered to be safer for patient administration by limiting normal cell targeting and replication. The newest OVs include viruses that cause no disease in humans, yet still have natural tumor tropism. Raccoonpox virus (RCNV) is a member of the Orthopoxvirus genus of Poxviridae and closely related to vaccinia virus, yet has no known pathogenicity in any mammalian species. A screen of cells from the NCI-60 cancer cell panel using growth curves demonstrated greater than a log increase in replication of RCNV in nearly 74% of the cell lines tested, similar to other tested OV poxviruses. In normal cell lines, pretreatment with interferon (IFN)-alpha/beta resulted in significant inhibition of RCNV replication. In both xenograft and syngeneic models of solid tumors, injection of RCNV resulted in significantly slower tumor progression and increased survival of mice. RCNV treatment also prolonged survival in treatment-resistant models of brain tumors and decreased tumor burden by systemic administration in models of lung metastasis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Evgin
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Ottawa, Centre for Cancer Therapeutics, Ottawa Health Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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Määttä AM, Mäkinen K, Ketola A, Liimatainen T, Yongabi FN, Vähä-Koskela M, Pirinen R, Rautsi O, Pellinen R, Hinkkanen A, Wahlfors J. Replication competent Semliki Forest virus prolongs survival in experimental lung cancer. Int J Cancer 2008; 123:1704-11. [PMID: 18651570 DOI: 10.1002/ijc.23646] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
We evaluated the therapeutic potential of the replication competent vector VA7-EGFP, which is based on the avirulent Semliki Forest virus (SFV) strain A7 (74) carrying the EGFP marker gene in an orthotopic lung cancer tumor model in nude mice. We have previously shown that this oncolytic vector destroys tumor cells efficiently in vitro and in vivo (in subcutaneous tumor model). Tumor growth in animals with orthotopically implanted adenocarcinoma cells (A549) were monitored during the study with small animal CT. We show that locally administered virotherapy with VA7-EGFP increased survival rate in experimental lung cancer significantly (p < 0.001) comparable to results obtained with the second generation conditionally replicating adenoviral vector Ad5-Delta24TK-GFP, used for comparison. The limited efficacy in systemically administered oncolytic viruses is the essential problem in oncolytic virotherapy and also in this study we were not able to elicit significant response with systemic administration route. Despite the fact that tumor microenvironment in orthotopic lung cancer is more optimal, viruses failed to home to the tumors and were unable to initiate efficient intratumoral replication. Clearly, the efficacy of virotherapy is influenced by many factors such as the route of virus administration, immunological and physiological barriers and cancer cell-specific features (IFN-responsiveness).
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Affiliation(s)
- Ann-Marie Määttä
- A. I. Virtanen Institute, Department of Biotechnology and Molecular Medicine, University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland.
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47
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Määttä AM, Liimatainen T, Wahlfors T, Wirth T, Vähä-Koskela M, Jansson L, Valonen P, Häkkinen K, Rautsi O, Pellinen R, Mäkinen K, Hakumäki J, Hinkkanen A, Wahlfors J. Evaluation of cancer virotherapy with attenuated replicative Semliki forest virus in different rodent tumor models. Int J Cancer 2007; 121:863-70. [PMID: 17443493 DOI: 10.1002/ijc.22758] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Semliki Forest virus (SFV) is one of the latest candidates for a virotherapeutic agent against cancer, and recent studies have demonstrated its efficacy in tumor models. In the present study, we examined the antitumor efficacy of an avirulent SFV strain A7(74) and its derivative, a replication-competent SFV vector VA7-EGFP, in a partially immunodeficient mouse tumor model (subcutaneous A549 human lung adenocarcinoma in NMRI nu/nu mouse) and in an immunocompetent rat tumor model (intracranial BT4C glioma in BDIX rat). When subcutaneous mouse tumors were injected 3 times with VA7-EGFP, intratumorally treated animals showed almost complete inhibition of tumor growth, while systemically treated mice displayed only delayed tumor growth (intravenous injection) or no response at all (intraperitoneal injection). This was at least partially due to a strong type I interferon (IFN) response in the tumors. The animals did not display any signs of abnormal behavior or encephalitis, even though SFV-positive foci were detected in the brain after the initial blood viremia. Intracranial rat tumors were injected directly with SFV A7(74) virus and monitored with magnetic resonance imaging. Tumor growth was significantly reduced (p < 0.05) with one virus injection, but the tumor size continued to increase after a lag period and none of the treated animals survived. Three virus injections or T-cell suppression with dexamethasone did not significantly improve treatment efficacy. It appeared that the local virotherapy induced extensive production of neutralizing anti-SFV antibodies that most likely contributed to the insufficient treatment efficacy. In conclusion, we show here that SFV A7(74) is a potential oncolytic agent for cancer virotherapy, but major immunological hurdles may need to be overcome before the virus can be clinically tested.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ann-Marie Määttä
- Department of Biotechnology and Molecular Medicine, A. I. Virtanen Institute, University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland
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48
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Määttä AM, Wahlfors T, Häkkinen K, Jansson L, Vähä-Koskela M, Hinkkanen A, Mäkinen K, Wahlfors J. 41. Evaluation of Lung Cancer Virotherapy with Oncolytic Semliki Forest Virus Using Immunodeficient Rodent Tumor Model. Mol Ther 2006. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2006.08.055] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
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