Adenovirus vectors are the most frequently used agents for gene therapy, including oncolytic therapy and vaccine development. It’s hard to overestimate the value of adenoviruses during the COVID-19 pandemic as to date four out of four approved viral vector-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are developed on adenovirus platform. The vast majority of adenoviral vectors are based on the most studied human adenovirus type 5 (HAdV-C5), however, its immunogenicity often hampers the clinical translation of HAdV-C5 vectors. The search of less seroprevalent adenovirus types led to another species C adenovirus, Adenovirus type 6 (HAdV-C6). HAdV-C6 possesses high oncolytic efficacy against multiple cancer types and remarkable ability to induce the immune response towards carrying antigens. Being genetically very close to HAdV-C5, HAdV-C6 differs from HAdV-C5 in structure of the most abundant capsid protein, hexon. This leads to the ability of HAdV-C6 to evade the uptake by Kupffer cells as well as to distinct opsonization by immunoglobulins and other blood proteins, influencing the overall biodistribution of HAdV-C6 after systemic administration. This review describes the structural features of HAdV-C6, its interaction with liver cells and blood factors, summarizes the previous experiences using HAdV-C6, and provides the rationale behind the use of HAdV-C6 for vaccine and anticancer drugs developments.

Human Adenovirus type 6 (HAdV-C6) is a promising candidate for the development of oncolytic vectors as it has low seroprevalence and the intrinsic ability to evade tissue macrophages. However, its further development as a therapeutic agent is hampered by the lack of convenient cloning methods. We have developed a novel technology when a shuttle plasmid carrying the distal genome parts with modified E1A and E3 regions is recombined in vitro with the truncated HAdV-C6 genome. Using this approach, we have constructed a novel Ad6-hT-GM vector controlled by the hTERT promoter and expressing granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) instead of 6.7K and gp19K E3 proteins. We have demonstrated that control by the hTERT promoter may result in delayed viral replication, which nevertheless does not significantly change the cytotoxic ability of recombinant viruses. The insertion of the transgene by displacing the E3-6.7K/gp19K region does not drastically change the expression patterns of E3 genes; however, mild changes in expression from major late promoter were observed. Finally, we have demonstrated that the treatment of human breast cancer xenografts in murine models with Ad6-hT-GM significantly decreased the tumor volume and improved survival time compared to mock-treated mice.

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), the second most common liver cancer, remains highly resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, leaving patients with unresectable tumors in urgent need of innovative therapeutic approaches. Adenovirus type 6 (Ad6), a species C human adenovirus, offers significant potential for cancer therapy due to its low seroprevalence compared to Adenovirus type 5 (Ad5) and its ability to evade Kupffer cells during systemic delivery. In this study, we developed a novel oncolytic adenovirus vector based on the Ad6 engineered to express human GM-CSF (Ad6-d24-GM) and evaluated its therapeutic efficacy in a novel immunocompetent, replication-permissive Syrian hamster model of CCA. Intratumoral administration of Ad6-d24-GM significantly suppressed tumor growth and prolonged survival without evidence of toxicity, as indicated by stable body weights and normal liver enzyme levels. Both Ad6-d24-GM and wild-type Ad6 induced robust infiltration of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, as well as CD68+ macrophages within tumors, demonstrating activation of antitumor immunity. Notably, the Ad6-d24-GM group exhibited a statistically significant increase in CD68+ cells compared to wild-type Ad6, highlighting the immunomodulatory effect of GM-CSF transgene. These results demonstrate the oncolytic and immunostimulatory potential of Ad6-based vectors for CCA treatment and validate the Syrian hamster syngeneic CCA-OF model as a valuable platform for studying oncolytic adenovirus therapies.

The paper describes some biological features of the radioprotective effect of double-stranded RNA preparation. It was found that yeast RNA preparation has a prolonged radioprotective effect after irradiation by a lethal dose of 9.4 Gy. 100 % of animals survive on the 70th day of observation when irradiated 1 hour or 4 days after 7 mg RNA preparation injection, 60 % animals survive when irradiated on day 8 or 12. Time parameters of repair of double-stranded breaks induced by gamma rays were estimated. It was found that the injection of the RNA preparation at the time of maximum number of double-stranded breaks, 1 hour after irradiation, reduces the efficacy of radioprotective action compared with the injection 1 hour before irradiation and 4 hours after irradiation. A comparison of the radioprotective effect of the standard radioprotector B-190 and the RNA preparation was made in one experiment. It has been established that the total RNA preparation is more efficacious than B-190. Survival on the 40th day after irradiation was 78 % for the group of mice treated with the RNA preparation and 67 % for those treated with B-190. In the course of analytical studies of the total yeast RNA preparation, it was found that the preparation is a mixture of single-stranded and double-stranded RNA. It was shown that only double-stranded RNA has radioprotective properties. Injection of 160 μg double-stranded RNA protects 100 % of the experimental animals from an absolutely lethal dose of gamma radiation, 9.4 Gy. It was established that the radioprotective effect of double-stranded RNA does not depend on sequence, but depends on its double-stranded form and the presence of “open” ends of the molecule. It is supposed that the radioprotective effect of double-stranded RNA is associated with the participation of RNA molecules in the correct repair of radiation-damaged chromatin in blood stem cells. The hematopoietic pluripotent cells that have survived migrate to the periphery, reach the spleen and actively proliferate. The newly formed cell population restores the hematopoietic and immune systems, which determines the survival of lethally irradiated animals.