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T cell-focused cancer immunotherapy including checkpoint inhibitors and cell therapies has been rapidly evolving over the past decade. Nevertheless, there remains a major unmet medical need in oncology generally and immuno-oncology specifically. We have constructed an oncolytic adenovirus, Ad5/3-E2F-d24-aMUC1aCD3-IL-2 (TILT-322), which is armed with a human aMUC1aCD3 T cell engager and IL-2. TILT-322 treatment stimulated T cell cytotoxicity through the increased presence of granzyme B, perforin, and interferon-gamma. Additional immune profiling indicated TILT-322 increased gamma delta T cell activation and impacted other cell types such as natural killer cells and natural killer-like T cells that are traditionally involved in cancer immunotherapy. TILT-322 treatment also decreased the proportion of exhausted CD8+ T cells as demarked by immune checkpoint expression in ovarian ascites samples. Overall, our data showed that TILT-322 treatment led to an enhanced T cell activation and reversed T cell exhaustion translating into high antitumor efficacy when given locally or intravenously. The analysis of blood and tumors isolated from an in vivo patient-derived ovarian cancer xenograft model suggested TILT-322 mediated tumor control through improved T cell functions. Therefore, TILT-322 is a promising novel anti-tumor agent for clinical translation.
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Ectopic calcification refers to the pathological accumulation of calcium ions in soft tissues and is often the result of a dysregulated action or disrupted function of proteins involved in extracellular matrix mineralization. While the mouse has traditionally been the go-to model organism for the study of pathologies associated with abnormal calcium deposition, many mouse mutants often have exacerbated phenotypes and die prematurely, limiting the understanding of the disease and the development of effective therapies. Since the mechanisms underlying ectopic calcification share some analogy with those of bone formation, the zebrafish (Danio rerio)-a well-established model for studying osteogenesis and mineralogenesis-has recently gained momentum as a model to study ectopic calcification disorders. In this review, we outline the mechanisms of ectopic mineralization in zebrafish, provide insights into zebrafish mutants that share phenotypic similarities with human pathological mineralization disorders, list the compounds capable of rescuing mutant phenotypes, and describe current methods to induce and characterize ectopic calcification in zebrafish.
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Calcinosis , Calcio , Humanos , Ratones , Animales , Calcio/metabolismo , Pez Cebra/genética , Calcinosis/metabolismo , Osteogénesis , Matriz Extracelular/metabolismo , Calcio de la Dieta/metabolismo , Calcificación FisiológicaRESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: Psychotherapy studies have revealed that therapist characteristics are responsible for 5% to 9% of outcome variance. The therapist-facilitative interpersonal skills (FIS) have been shown to predict both alliance and outcomes, indicating that higher FIS therapists are more effective than lower FIS therapists. The current study focused on the development and validation of the FIS-client version (FIS-C) instrument, aimed at collecting the clients' perspectives on relevant therapist characteristics. METHOD: The clinical outcomes in routine evaluation-outcome measures, the session rating scale, and the FIS questionnaire-client version were filled out by psychotherapy clients. Exploratory, confirmatory factor, and test-retest analysis were conducted. RESULTS: Results indicate robust psychometric characteristics, in terms of validity (factorial, convergent, discriminant, and nomological), reliability, and sensitivity. CONCLUSION: The validation of the FIS-C represents an important contribution to clinical research and practice, namely to the field of client feedback and therapist expertise.
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Relaciones Profesional-Paciente , Habilidades Sociales , Humanos , Reproducibilidad de los Resultados , Psicoterapia/métodos , Evaluación de Resultado en la Atención de SaludRESUMEN
User-centric design within organizations is crucial for developing information technology that offers optimal usability and user experience. Personas are a central user-centered design technique that puts people before technology and helps decision makers understand the needs and wants of the end-user segments of their products, systems, and services. However, it is not clear how ready organizations are to adopt persona thinking. To address these concerns, we develop and validate the Persona Readiness Scale (PRS), a survey instrument to measure organizational readiness for personas. After a 12-person qualitative pilot study, the PRS was administered to 372 professionals across different industries to examine its reliability and validity, including 125 for exploratory factor analysis and 247 for confirmatory factor analysis. The confirmatory factor analysis indicated a good fit with five dimensions: Culture readiness, Knowledge readiness, Data and systems readiness, Capability readiness, and Goal readiness. Higher persona readiness is positively associated with the respondents' evaluations of successful persona projects. Organizations can apply the resulting 18-item scale to identify areas of improvement before initiating costly persona projects towards the overarching goal of user-centric product development. Located at the cross-section of information systems and human-computer interaction, our research provides a valuable instrument for organizations wanting to leverage personas towards more user-centric and empathetic decision making about users. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10799-022-00373-9.
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Cited2 plays crucial roles in mouse embryonic stem cells self-renewal, the initiation of the somatic reprogramming process into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) and the suppression of cell senescence. Here, we investigated the potential of CITED2 expression in combination with the Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and c-Myc factors for reprogramming of primary mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF) at passage 2 and 4. The ectopic CITED2 expression in primary MEF prior to the onset of the reprogramming process, generated iPSC with less variability in the expression of endogenous pluripotency-related genes. In contrast, part of the MEF reprogrammed without ectopic expression of CITED2 at passage 4 originated partially reprogrammed iPSC or pre-iPSC. However, the overexpression of CITED2 in the pre-iPSC was insufficient to complete the reprogramming process into iPSC. These results indicated that ectopic CITED2 expression at the onset of the reprogramming process in combination with the reprogramming factors promotes a complete and homogeneous conversion of somatic cells into iPSC.
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Diferenciación Celular/fisiología , Reprogramación Celular/fisiología , Expresión Génica Ectópica/fisiología , Células Madre Pluripotentes Inducidas/citología , Proteínas Represoras/metabolismo , Transactivadores/metabolismo , Animales , Células Cultivadas , Fibroblastos/metabolismo , Factor 4 Similar a Kruppel , Ratones Endogámicos C57BLRESUMEN
A major challenge in sugarcane breeding program is the obtaining of enough number of seeds (caryopses) for the development of new improved cultivars. Genotypes differ in their function as pollen recipient and pollen donor, which also affect the seed performance. Thus, the aim of this study was to verify the production and performance of sugarcane seeds from different hybridizations involving RB92579 as pollen recipient and pollen donor. Twelve bi-parental crossings were carried out involving RB92579 and other different genotypes randomly chosen. Seed production potential was evaluated by percentage of fertile spikelets and caryopsis fresh weight. The seed physiological potential was determined by evaluating germination and vigor (index of germination rate, number of normal seedlings per gram of fuzz, and seedling dry weight). The results showed better performance for RB92579 as pollen donor for all characteristics studied. Therefore, RB92579 sugarcane cultivar should be used as pollen donor during hybridizations, condition that permits a greater production and physiological performance of seeds for the sugarcane breeding programs.
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Germinación/fisiología , Hibridación Genética/fisiología , Polen/crecimiento & desarrollo , Saccharum/crecimiento & desarrollo , Plantones/crecimiento & desarrollo , Semillas/crecimiento & desarrollo , Genotipo , Germinación/genética , Hibridación Genética/genética , Polen/genética , Saccharum/genéticaRESUMEN
PURPOSE: TILT-123 (igrelimogene litadenorepvec) is an oncolytic adenovirus armed with tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-2, designed to induce T-cell infiltration and cytotoxicity in solid tumors. PATIENTS AND METHODS: TUNIMO (NCT04695327) was a single-arm, multicenter phase I dose escalation trial designed to assess safety of TILT-123 in advanced solid cancers refractory to standard therapy. Patients received intravenous and intratumoral TILT-123. The primary endpoint was safety by adverse events (AEs), laboratory values, vital signs, and electrocardiograms. Secondary endpoints included tumor response, pharmacokinetics, and predictive biomarkers. RESULTS: 20 patients were enrolled, with median age of 58 years. Most prevalent cancer types included sarcomas (35%), melanomas (15%) and ovarian cancers (15%). No dose-limiting toxicities were observed. The most frequent treatment related AEs included fever (16.7%), chills (13.0%) and fatigue (9.3%). 10 patients were evaluable for response on day 78 with RECIST 1.1, iRECIST or PET-based evaluation. The disease control rate by PET was 6/10 (60% of evaluable patients) and 2/10 by RECIST 1.1 and iRECIST (20% of evaluable patients). Tumor size reductions occurred in both injected and non-injected lesions. TILT-123 was detected in injected and non-injected tumors, and virus was observed in blood after intravenous and intratumoral injections. Treatment resulted in reduction of lymphocytes in blood, with concurrent lymphocyte increases in tumors, findings compatible with trafficking. CONCLUSIONS: TILT-123 was safe and able to produce anti-tumor effects in local and distant lesions in heavily pre-treated patients. Good tolerability of TILT-123 facilitates combination studies, several of which are ongoing (NCT04217473, NCT05271318, NCT05222932, NCT06125197).
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Immunotherapy with bispecific T cell engagers has shown efficacy in patients with hematologic malignancies and uveal melanoma. Antitumor effects of bispecific T cell engagers in most solid tumors are limited due to their short serum half-life and insufficient tumor concentration. We designed a novel serotype 5/3 oncolytic adenovirus encoding a human mucin1 antibody and the human CD3 receptor, Ad5/3-E2F-d24-aMUC1aCD3 (TILT-321). TILT-321 is engineered to replicate only in cancer cells, leading to a high concentration of the aMUC1aCD3 molecule in the tumor microenvironment. Infection and cell viability assays were performed to determine the oncolytic potential of the novel construct. The functionality of the virus-derived aMUC1aCD3 was evaluated in vitro. When TILT-321 was combined with allogeneic T cells, rapid tumor cell lysis was observed. TILT-321-infected cells secreted functional aMUC1aCD3, as shown by increased T cell activity and its binding to MUC1 and CD3. In vivo, TILT-321 treatment led to effective antitumor efficacy mediated by increased intratumoral T cell activity in an A549 and patient-derived ovarian cancer xenograft mouse model humanized with peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). This study provides a proof of concept for an effective strategy to overcome the key limitations of recombinant bispecific T cell engager delivery for solid tumor treatment.
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Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly treatment-resistant cancer. Currently, the only curative treatment for PDAC is surgery, but most patients are diagnosed with metastatic disease and thus outside the scope of surgery. The majority of metastatic patients receive chemotherapy, but responses are limited. New therapeutics are thus urgently needed for PDAC. One major limitation in treating PDAC has been the highly immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) which inhibits anti-cancer immune responses. We have constructed an oncolytic adenovirus coding for a variant the interleukin 2 molecule, Ad5/3-E2F-d24-vIL2 (also known as TILT-452, and "vIL-2 virus"), with preferential binding to IL-2 receptors on the surface of effector lymphocytes over T regulatory cells (T regs). In the present study this virus was evaluated in combination with nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine chemotherapy in Panc02 mouse model. Ad5/3-E2F-d24-vIL2 showed marked PDAC cell killing in vitro, alongside induction of mitotic slippage and immunogenic cell death in PDAC cell lines, when combined with chemotherapy. Increased survival was seen in vivo with 80% of animals surviving long term, when compared to chemotherapy alone. Moreover, combination therapy mediated enhanced tumor growth control, without observable toxicities in internal organs or external features. Survival and tumor control benefits were associated with activation of tumor infiltrating immune cells, downregulation of inhibitory signals, change in fibroblast populations in the tumors and changes in intratumoral cytokines, with increased chemokine amounts (CCL2, CCL3, CCL4) and anti-tumor cytokines (IFN-γ and TNFα). Furthermore, vIL-2 virus in combination with chemotherapy efficiently induced tumor protection upon rechallenge, that was extended to a previously non-encountered cancer cell line. In conclusion, Ad5/3-E2F-d24-vIL2 is a promising immunotherapy candidate when combined with nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine.
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Infecciones por Adenoviridae , Carcinoma Ductal Pancreático , Neoplasias Pancreáticas , Animales , Ratones , Adenoviridae , Citocinas/uso terapéutico , Interleucina-2/genética , Interleucina-2/farmacología , Interleucina-2/uso terapéutico , Línea Celular Tumoral , Carcinoma Ductal Pancreático/terapia , Carcinoma Ductal Pancreático/tratamiento farmacológico , Gemcitabina , Linfocitos/patología , Fibroblastos/patología , Microambiente Tumoral , Neoplasias PancreáticasRESUMEN
Lung cancer remains among the most difficult-to-treat malignancies and is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. The introduction of targeted therapies and checkpoint inhibitors has improved treatment outcomes; however, most patients with advanced-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) eventually fail these therapies. Therefore, there is a major unmet clinical need for checkpoint refractory/resistant NSCLC. Here, we tested the combination of aPD-1 and adenovirus armed with TNFα and IL-2 (Ad5-CMV-mTNFα/mIL-2) in an immunocompetent murine NSCLC model. Moreover, although local delivery has been standard for virotherapy, treatment was administered intravenously to facilitate clinical translation and putative routine use. We showed that treatment of tumor-bearing animals with aPD-1 in combination with intravenously injected armed adenovirus significantly decreased cancer growth, even in the presence of neutralizing antibodies. We observed an increased frequency of cytotoxic tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, including tumor-specific cells. Combination treatment led to a decreased percentage of immunosuppressive tumor-associated macrophages and an improvement in dendritic cell maturation. Moreover, we observed expansion of the tumor-specific memory T cell compartment in secondary lymphoid organs in the group that received aPD-1 with the virus. However, although the non-replicative Ad5-CMV-mTNFα/mIL-2 virus allows high transgene expression in the murine model, it does not fully reflect the clinical outcome in humans. Thus, we complemented our findings using NSCLC ex vivo models fully permissive for the TNFα and IL-2- armed oncolytic adenovirus TILT-123. Overall, our data demonstrate the ability of systemically administered adenovirus armed with TNFα and IL-2 to potentiate the anti-tumor efficacy of aPD-1 and warrant further investigation in clinical trials.
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Carcinoma de Pulmón de Células no Pequeñas , Interleucina-2 , Neoplasias Pulmonares , Factor de Necrosis Tumoral alfa , Animales , Humanos , Ratones , Adenoviridae/genética , Carcinoma de Pulmón de Células no Pequeñas/tratamiento farmacológico , Interleucina-2/genética , Interleucina-2/farmacología , Neoplasias Pulmonares/tratamiento farmacológico , Factor de Necrosis Tumoral alfa/genética , Factor de Necrosis Tumoral alfa/uso terapéutico , Inhibidores de Puntos de Control InmunológicoRESUMEN
The position of the coronary ostia was investigated in 70 segments of the aorta from young adult crossbred horses. After fixation with a 4% buffered aqueous formaldehyde solution and cautious dissection of the aortic bulb, the morphometric relationships between the coronary ostium and the aortic valvar elements were digitally analysed with the support of Image-Pro Plus® software. In horses, the left coronary ostium was near to the right valvular commissure in all cases (100%) analysed in this study. The left coronary ostium was at the level of the intercommissural line in 57.1% and below it in 42.9%. The right coronary ostium was near to the left valvular commissure in 58.6% (2.14 ± 0.32 cm) and close to the right valvular commissure in 41.4% (2.27 ± 0.40 cm). Concerning the intercommissural line, the right coronary ostia was at its level in 24.3% and below it in 75.7%. Accessory coronary ostia were observed in 8.6% of the specimens. In view of the results, it was possible to assume that the positions of the coronary ostia in equines tend towards a standard morphological disposition. Thus, perfusion of the left coronary artery occurs partly more frequently in ventricular systole and complete perfusion occurs less frequently in ventricular diastole. For the right coronary artery, perfusion is mostly complete in diastole and partially in ventricular systole.
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Aorta/anatomía & histología , Válvula Aórtica/anatomía & histología , Vasos Coronarios/anatomía & histología , Caballos/anatomía & histología , Animales , Diástole , Disección/veterinaria , Formaldehído , SístoleRESUMEN
Common representations of light fields use four-dimensional data structures, where a given pixel is closely related not only to its spatial neighbours within the same view, but also to its angular neighbours, co-located in adjacent views. Such structure presents increased redundancy between pixels, when compared with regular single-view images. Then, these redundancies are exploited to obtain compressed representations of the light field, using prediction algorithms specifically tailored to estimate pixel values based on both spatial and angular references. This paper proposes new encoding schemes which take advantage of the four-dimensional light field data structures to improve the coding performance of Minimum Rate Predictors. The proposed methods expand previous research on lossless coding beyond the current state-of-the-art. The experimental results, obtained using both traditional datasets and others more challenging, show bit-rate savings no smaller than 10%, when compared with existing methods for lossless light field compression.
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Intratumoral immunotherapies are entering clinical use but concerns remain regarding their effects on non-injected tumors. Here, we studied the impact of local treatment with an adenovirus coding for TNFa and IL-2 on systemic antitumor response in animals receiving aPD-1 (anti-programmed cell death protein 1) therapy. Using bilateral murine melanoma models, we tested systemic tumor response to combined therapy with anti-PD-1 and an adenovirus coding for TNFa and IL-2 ("virus"). Virus was given intratumorally (to one of the two tumors only) and aPD-1 monoclonal antibody systemically. We evaluated both tumors' response to treatment, overall survival, metastasis development, and immunological mechanisms involved with response. Consistent tumor control was observed in both injected and non-injected tumors, including complete response in all treated animals receiving aPD-1+ virus therapy. Mechanistically, virus injections enabled potent effector lymphocyte response locally, with systemic effects in non-injected tumors facilitated by aPD-1 treatment. Moreover, adenovirus therapy demonstrated immunological memory formation. Virus therapy was effective in preventing metastasis development. Local treatment with TNFa and IL-2 coding adenovirus enhanced systemic response to aPD-1 therapy, by re-shaping the microenvironment of both injected and non-injected tumors. Therefore, our pre-clinical data support the rationale for a trial utilizing a combination of aPD-1 plus virus for the treatment of human cancer.
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Infecciones por Adenoviridae , Melanoma , Viroterapia Oncolítica , Adenoviridae/genética , Animales , Inmunoterapia , Interleucina-2 , Melanoma/terapia , Ratones , Microambiente TumoralRESUMEN
Cytokines have proven to be effective for cancer therapy, however whilst low-dose monotherapy with cytokines provides limited therapeutic benefit, high-dose treatment can lead to a number of adverse events. Interleukin 7 has shown promising results in clinical trials, but anti-cancer effect was limited, in part due to a low concentration of the cytokine within the tumor. We hypothesized that arming an oncolytic adenovirus with Interleukin 7, enabling high expression localized to the tumor microenvironment, would overcome systemic delivery issues and improve therapeutic efficacy. We evaluated the effects of Ad5/3-E2F-d24-hIL7 (TILT-517) on tumor growth, immune cell activation and cytokine profiles in the tumor microenvironment using three clinically relevant animal models and ex vivo tumor cultures. Our data showed that local treatment of tumor bearing animals with Ad5/3- E2F-d24-hIL7 significantly decreased cancer growth and increased frequency of tumor-infiltrating cells. Ad5/3-E2F-d24-hIL7 promoted notable upregulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and concomitant activation and migration of CD4+ and CD8 + T cells. Interleukin 7 expression within the tumor was positively correlated with increased number of cytotoxic CD4+ cells and IFNg-producing CD4+ and CD8+ cells. These findings offer an approach to overcome the current limitations of conventional IL7 therapy and could therefore be translated to the clinic.
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Infecciones por Adenoviridae , Viroterapia Oncolítica , Virus Oncolíticos , Adenoviridae/genética , Animales , Línea Celular Tumoral , Citocinas , Interleucina-7 , Linfocitos Infiltrantes de Tumor , Viroterapia Oncolítica/métodosRESUMEN
Oncolytic viruses provide a biologically multi-faceted treatment option for patients who cannot be cured with currently available treatment options. We constructed an oncolytic adenovirus, TILT-123, to support T-cell therapies and immune checkpoint inhibitors in solid tumors. Adenoviruses are immunogenic by nature, are easy to produce in large quantities, and can carry relatively large transgenes. They are the most commonly used gene therapy vectors and are well tolerated in patients. TILT-123 expresses two potent cytokines, tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-2, to stimulate especially the T-cell compartment in the tumor microenvironment. Before entering clinical studies, the safety and biodistribution of TILT-123 was studied in Syrian hamsters and in mice. The results show that TILT-123 is safe in animals as monotherapy and in combination with an immune checkpoint inhibitor anti-PD-1. The virus treatment induces acute changes in circulating immune cell compartments, but the levels return to normal by the middle of the treatment period. The virus is rapidly cleared from healthy tissues, and it does not cause damage to vital organs. The results support the initiation of a phase 1 dose-escalation trial, where melanoma patients receiving a tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy are treated with TILT-123 (NCT04217473).
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Adenoviridae/metabolismo , Citocinas/metabolismo , Inhibidores de Puntos de Control Inmunológico/farmacología , Virus Oncolíticos/metabolismo , Receptor de Muerte Celular Programada 1/antagonistas & inhibidores , Animales , Anticuerpos Neutralizantes/metabolismo , Línea Celular Tumoral , Cricetinae , Femenino , Inyecciones , Masculino , Ratones , Neoplasias/inmunología , Neoplasias/patología , Especificidad de Órganos , Receptor de Muerte Celular Programada 1/metabolismo , Distribución Tisular , Transgenes , Replicación Viral/fisiología , Ensayos Antitumor por Modelo de XenoinjertoRESUMEN
The notion of developing variants of the classic interleukin 2 (IL-2) cytokine has emerged from the limitations observed with the systemic use of human IL-2 in the clinic: severe adverse events accompanied by low therapeutic response rate in treated patients. Modifications made in the IL-2 receptor-binding structure leads to preferential binding of IL-2 variant cytokine to receptors on effector anti-tumor lymphocytes over T regulatory (TReg) cells. Because of their inherent immunogenicity, oncolytic adenoviruses are useful for expression of immunomodulatory molecules in tumors, for induction of a pro-inflammatory state in the tumor microenvironment. In the present study, we constructed an adenovirus coding for an IL-2 variant (vIL-2) protein, Ad5/3-E2F-d24-vIL2. Functionality of the new virus was tested in vitro, and anti-tumor efficacy and mechanism of action studies were performed in immunocompetent hamsters bearing pancreatic tumors. Ad5/3-E2F-d24-vIL2 treatment elicited efficient anti-tumor response, with 62.5% monotherapy complete response. Moreover, it promoted substantial repression of genes associated with myeloid cells mediated immunosuppression (CD11b, ARG1, CD206). This was seen in conjunction with upregulation of genes associated with tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) cytotoxicity (CD3G, SAP, PRF1, GZMM and GZMK). In summary, Ad5/3-E2F-d24-vIL2 demonstrates therapeutic potential by counteracting immunosuppression and in efficiently coordinating lymphocytes mediated anti-tumor response in immunosuppressive tumors. Thus, Ad5/3-E2F-d24-vIL2 is a promising candidate for translation into clinical trials in human immunosuppressive solid tumors.
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Adenoviridae , Vectores Genéticos , Interleucina-2/inmunología , Neoplasias Pancreáticas/inmunología , Microambiente Tumoral/inmunología , Animales , Cricetinae , Humanos , Interleucina-2/genética , Masculino , Mesocricetus , Virus Oncolíticos , Proteínas Recombinantes/genética , Proteínas Recombinantes/inmunologíaRESUMEN
Immune checkpoint inhibitors such as anti-PD-1 have revolutionized the field of oncology over the past decade. Nevertheless, the majority of patients do not benefit from them. Virotherapy is a flexible tool that can be used to stimulate and/or recruit different immune populations. T-cell enabling virotherapy could enhance the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors, even in tumors resistant to these inhibitors. The T-cell potentiating virotherapy used here consisted of adenoviruses engineered to express tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-2 in the tumor microenvironment. To study virus efficacy in checkpoint-inhibitor resistant tumors, we developed an anti-PD-1 resistant melanoma model in vivo. In resistant tumors, adding virotherapy to an anti-PD-1 regimen resulted in increased survival (p=0.0009), when compared to anti-PD-1 monotherapy. Some of the animals receiving virotherapy displayed complete responses, which did not occur in the immune checkpoint-inhibitor monotherapy group. When adenoviruses were delivered into resistant tumors, there were signs of increased CD8 T-cell infiltration and activation, which - together with a reduced presence of M2 macrophages and myeloid-derived suppressor cells - could explain those results. T-cell enabling virotherapy appeared as a valuable tool to counter resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors. The clinical translation of this approach could increase the number of cancer patients benefiting from immunotherapies.
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Inhibidores de Puntos de Control Inmunológico/farmacología , Interleucina-2/inmunología , Melanoma Experimental/patología , Viroterapia Oncolítica/métodos , Factor de Necrosis Tumoral alfa/inmunología , Adenoviridae , Animales , Resistencia a Antineoplásicos , Femenino , Ratones , Ratones Endogámicos C57BL , Receptor de Muerte Celular Programada 1/antagonistas & inhibidoresRESUMEN
Despite some promising results, the majority of patients do not benefit from T cell therapies, as tumors prevent T cells from entering the tumor, shut down their activity, or downregulate key antigens. Due to their nature and mechanism of action, oncolytic viruses have features that can help overcome many of the barriers currently facing T cell therapies of solid tumors. This study aims to understand how four different oncolytic viruses (adenovirus, vaccinia virus, herpes simplex virus, and reovirus) perform in that task. For that purpose, an immunocompetent in vivo tumor model featuring adoptive tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy was used. Tumor growth control (p < 0.001) and survival analyses suggest that adenovirus was most effective in enabling T cell therapy. The complete response rate was 62% for TILs + adenovirus versus 17.5% for TILs + PBS. Of note, TIL biodistribution did not explain efficacy differences between viruses. Instead, immunostimulatory shifts in the tumor microenvironment mirrored efficacy results. Overall, the use of oncolytic viruses can improve the utility of T cell therapies, and additional virus engineering by arming with transgenes can provide further antitumor effects. This phenomenon was seen when an unarmed oncolytic adenovirus was compared to Ad5/3-E2F-d24-hTNFa-IRES-hIL2 (TILT-123). A clinical trial is ongoing, where patients receiving TIL treatment also receive TILT-123 (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04217473).
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Mutations and inadequate methylation profiles of CITED2 are associated with human congenital heart disease (CHD). In mouse, Cited2 is necessary for embryogenesis, particularly for heart development, and its depletion in embryonic stem cells (ESC) impairs cardiac differentiation. We have now determined that Cited2 depletion in ESC affects the expression of transcription factors and cardiopoietic genes involved in early mesoderm and cardiac specification. Interestingly, the supplementation of the secretome prepared from ESC overexpressing CITED2, during the onset of differentiation, rescued the cardiogenic defects of Cited2-depleted ESC. In addition, we demonstrate that the proteins WNT5A and WNT11 held the potential for rescue. We also validated the zebrafish as a model to investigate cited2 function during development. Indeed, the microinjection of morpholinos targeting cited2 transcripts caused developmental defects recapitulating those of mice knockout models, including the increased propensity for cardiac defects and severe death rate. Importantly, the co-injection of anti-cited2 morpholinos with either CITED2 or WNT5A and WNT11 recombinant proteins corrected the developmental defects of Cited2-morphants. This study argues that defects caused by the dysfunction of Cited2 at early stages of development, including heart anomalies, may be remediable by supplementation of exogenous molecules, offering the opportunity to develop novel therapeutic strategies aiming to prevent CHD.