Effective immunotherapy of stromal-rich tumors requires simultaneous targeting of cancer cells and immunosuppressive elements of the microenvironment. Here, we modified the oncolytic group B adenovirus enadenotucirev to express a stroma-targeted bispecific T-cell engager (BiTE). This BiTE bound fibroblast activation protein on cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAF) and CD3ε on T cells, leading to potent T-cell activation and fibroblast death. Treatment of fresh clinical biopsies, including malignant ascites and solid prostate cancer tissue, with FAP-BiTE–encoding virus induced activation of tumor-infiltrating PD1⁺ T cells to kill CAFs. In ascites, this led to depletion of CAF-associated immunosuppressive factors, upregulation of proinflammatory cytokines, and increased gene expression of markers of antigen presentation, T-cell function, and trafficking. M2-like ascites macrophages exhibited a proinflammatory repolarization, indicating spectrum-wide alteration of the tumor microenvironment. With this approach, we have actively killed both cancer cells and tumor fibroblasts, reversing CAF-mediated immunosuppression and yielding a potent single-agent therapeutic that is ready for clinical assessment. Significance: An engineered oncolytic adenovirus that encodes a bispecific antibody combines direct virolysis with endogenous T-cell activation to attack stromal fibroblasts, providing a multimodal treatment strategy within a single therapeutic agent. Cancer Res; 1–14. ©2018 AACR.

Background: APOBEC3 (A3) proteins restrict viral replication by cytidine deamination of viral DNA genomes and impairing reverse transcription and integration. To escape this restriction, lentiviruses have evolved the viral infectivity factor (Vif), which binds A3 proteins and targets them for proteolytic degradation. In contrast, foamy viruses (FVs) encode Bet proteins that allow replication in the presence of A3, apparently by A3 binding and/or sequestration, thus preventing A3 packaging into virions and subsequent restriction. Due to a long-lasting FV-host coevolution, Bet proteins mainly counteract restriction by A3s from their cognate or highly related host species. Results: Through bioinformatics, we identified conserved motifs in Bet, all localized in the bel2 exon. In line with the localization of these conserved motifs within bel2, this part of feline FV (FFV) Bet has been shown to be essential for feline A3 (feA3) inactivation and feA3 protein binding. To study the function of the Bet motifs in detail, we analyzed the ability of targeted deletion, substitution, and chimeric FFV-PFV (prototype FV) Bet mutants to physically bind and/or inactivate feA3. Binding of Bet to feA3Z2b is sensitive to mutations in the first three conserved motifs and N- and C-terminal deletions and substitutions across almost the complete bel2 coding sequence. In contrast, the Bel1 (also designated Tas) domain of Bet is dispensable for basal feA3Z2b inactivation and binding but mainly increases the steady state level of Bet. Studies with PFV Bel1 and full-length FFV Bel2 chimeras confirmed the importance of Bel2 for A3 inactivation indicating that Bel1 is dispensable for basal feA3Z2b inactivation and binding but increases Bet stability. Moreover, the bel1/tas exon may be required for expression of a fully functional Bet protein from a spliced transcript. Conclusions: We show that the Bel2 domain of FV Bet is essential for the inactivation of APOBEC3 cytidine deaminase restriction factors. The Bel1/Tas domain increases protein stability and can be exchanged by related sequence. Since feA3 binding and inactivation by Bet are highly correlated, the data support the view that FV Bet prevents A3-mediated restriction of viral replication by creating strong complexes with these proteins.

The use of whole viruses as antigen scaffolds is a recent development in vaccination that improves immunogenicity without the need for additional adjuvants. Previous studies highlighted the potential of foamy viruses (FVs) in prophylactic vaccination and gene therapy. Replication-competent FVs can trigger immune signaling and integrate into the host genome, resulting in persistent antigen expression and a robust immune response. Here, we explored feline foamy virus (FFV) proteins as scaffolds for therapeutic B and T cell epitope delivery in vitro. Infection- and cancer-related B and T cell epitopes were grafted into FFV Gag, Env, or Bet by residue replacement, either at sites of high local sequence homology between the epitope and the host protein or in regions known to tolerate sequence alterations. Modified proviruses were evaluated in vitro for protein steady state levels, particle release, and virus titer in permissive cells. Modification of Gag and Env was mostly detrimental to their function. As anticipated, modification of Bet had no impact on virion release and affected virus titers of only some recombinants. Further evaluation of Bet as an epitope carrier was performed using T cell epitopes from the model antigen chicken ovalbumin (OVA), human tyrosinase-related protein 2 (TRP-2), and oncoprotein E7 of human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16E7). Transfection of murine cells with constructs encoding Bet-epitope chimeric proteins led to efficient MHC-I-restricted epitope presentation as confirmed by interferon-gamma enzyme-linked immunospot assays using epitope-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) lines. FFV infection-mediated transduction of cells with epitope-carrying Bet also induced T-cell responses, albeit with reduced efficacy, in a process independent from the presence of free peptides. We show that primate FV Bet is also a promising T cell epitope carrier for clinical translation. The data demonstrate the utility of replication-competent and -attenuated FVs as antigen carriers in immunotherapy.

Ionising radiation causes cell death through the induction of DNA damage, particularly double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) breaks. Evidence suggests that adenoviruses inhibit proteins involved in the DNA damage response (DDR) to prevent recognition of double-stranded viral DNA genomes as cellular dsDNA breaks. We hypothesise that combining adenovirus treatment with radiotherapy has the potential for enhancing tumour-specific cytotoxicity through inhibition of the DDR and augmentation of virus production. We show that EnAd, an Ad3/Ad11p chimeric oncolytic adenovirus currently being trialled in colorectal and other cancers, targets the DDR pathway at a number of junctures. Infection is associated with a decrease in irradiation-induced 53BP1 and Rad51 foci formation, and in total DNA ligase IV levels. We also demonstrate a radiation-associated increase in EnAd production in vitro and in a pilot in vivo experiment. Given the current limitations of in vitro techniques in assessing for synergy between these treatments, we adapted the plaque assay to allow monitoring of viral plaque size and growth and utilised the xCELLigence cell adhesion assay to measure cytotoxicity. Our study provides further evidence on the interaction between adenovirus and radiation in vitro and in vivo and suggests these have at least an additive, and possibly a synergistic, impact on cytotoxicity.

Background Oncolytic viruses are currently experiencing accelerated development in several laboratories worldwide, with some forty-seven clinical trials currently recruiting. Many oncolytic viruses combine targeted cytotoxicity to cancer cells with a proinflammatory cell lysis. Due to their additional potential to express immunomodulatory transgenes, they are also often known as oncolytic viral vaccines. However, several types of oncolytic viruses are human-specific and the lack of suitable immune-competent animal models complicates biologically relevant evaluation of their vaccine potential. This is a particular challenge for group B adenoviruses, which fail to infect even those immunocompetent animal model systems identified as semi-permissive for type 5 adenovirus. Here, we aim to develop a murine cell line capable of supporting replication of a group B oncolytic adenovirus, enadenotucirev (EnAd), for incorporation into a syngeneic immunocompetent animal model to explore the oncolytic vaccine potential of group B oncolytic viruses. Methods Transgenic murine cell lines were infected with EnAd expressing GFP transgene under replication-independent or -dependent promoters. Virus mRNA expression, genome replication, and late protein expression were determined by qRT-PCR, qPCR, and immunoblotting, respectively. We also use Balb/c immune-competent mice to determine the tumourogenicity and infectivity of transgenic murine cell lines. Results Our results show that a broad range of human carcinoma cells will support EnAd replication, but not murine carcinoma cells. Murine cells can be readily modified to express surface human CD46, one of the receptors for group B adenoviruses, allowing receptor-mediated uptake of EnAd particles into the murine cells and expression of CMV promoter-driven transgenes. Although the early E1A mRNA was expressed in murine cells at levels similar to human cells, adenovirus E2B and Fibre mRNA expression levels were hampered and few virus genomes were produced. Unlike previous reports on group C adenoviruses, trans-complementation of group B adenoviruses by co-infection with mouse adenovirus 1 did not rescue replication. A panel of group B adenoviruses expressing individual mouse adenovirus 1 genes were also unable to rescue EnAd replication. Conclusion Together, these results indicate that there may be major differences in the early stages of replication of group C and B adenoviruses in murine cells, and that the block to the life cycle of B adenoviruses in murine cells occurs in the early stage of virus replication, perhaps reflecting poor activity of Ad11p E1A in murine cells.