Tumor-Localized Secretion of Soluble PD1 Enhances Oncolytic Virotherapy.

Oncolytic virotherapy represents an attractive option for the treatment of a variety of aggressive or refractory tumors. While this therapy is effective at rapidly debulking directly injected tumor masses, achieving complete eradication of established disease has proven difficult. One method to overcome this challenge is to use oncolytic viruses to induce secondary antitumor immune responses. Unfortunately, while the initial induction of these immune responses is typically robust, their subsequent efficacy is often inhibited through a variety of immunoregulatory mechanisms, including the PD1/PDL1 T-cell checkpoint pathway. To overcome this inhibition, we generated a novel recombinant myxoma virus (vPD1), which inhibits the PD1/PDL1 pathway specifically within the tumor microenvironment by secreting a soluble form of PD1 from infected cells. This virus both induced and maintained antitumor CD8+ T-cell responses within directly treated tumors and proved safer and more effective than combination therapy using unmodified myxoma and systemic αPD1 antibodies. Localized vPD1 treatment combined with systemic elimination of regulatory T cells had potent synergistic effects against metastatic disease that was already established in secondary solid organs. These results demonstrate that tumor-localized inhibition of the PD1/PDL1 pathway can significantly improve outcomes during oncolytic virotherapy. Furthermore, they establish a feasible path to translate these findings against clinically relevant disease. Cancer Res; 77(11); 2952-63. ©2017 AACR.

Myxoma Virus Induces Ligand Independent Extrinsic Apoptosis in Human Myeloma Cells.

INTRODUCTION: Multiple myeloma is a clonal malignancy of plasma B cells. Although recent advances have improved overall prognosis, virtually all myeloma patients still succumb to relapsing disease. Therefore, novel therapies to treat this disease remain urgently needed. We have recently shown that treatment of human multiple myeloma cells with an oncolytic virus known as myxoma results in rapid cell death even in the absence of viral replication; however, the specific mechanisms and pathways involved remain unknown. MATERIALS AND METHODS: To determine how myxoma virus eliminates human multiple myeloma cells, we queried the apoptotic pathways that were activated after viral infection using immunoblot analysis and other cell biology approaches. RESULTS: Our results indicate that myxoma virus infection initiates apoptosis in multiple myeloma cells through activation of the extrinsic initiator caspase-8. Caspase-8 activation subsequently results in cleavage of BH3 interacting-domain death agonist and loss of mitochondrial membrane potential causing secondary activation of caspase-9. Activation of caspase-8 appears to be independent of extrinsic death ligands and instead correlates with depletion of cellular inhibitors of apoptosis. We hypothesize that this depletion results from virally mediated host-protein shutoff because a myxoma construct that overexpresses the viral decapping enzymes displays improved oncolytic potential. CONCLUSION: Taken together, these results suggest that myxoma virus eliminates human multiple myeloma cells through a pathway unique to oncolytic poxviruses, making it an excellent therapeutic option for the treatment of relapsed or refractory patients.

Myxoma virus attenuates expression of activating transcription factor 4 (ATF4) which has implications for the treatment of proteasome inhibitor-resistant multiple myeloma.

The recent development of chemotherapeutic proteasome inhibitors, such as bortezomib, has improved the outcomes of patients suffering from the plasma cell malignancy multiple myeloma. Unfortunately, many patients treated with these drugs still suffer relapsing disease due to treatment-induced upregulation of the antiapoptotic protein Mcl1. We have recently demonstrated that an oncolytic poxvirus, known as myxoma, can rapidly eliminate primary myeloma cells by inducing cellular apoptosis. The efficacy of myxoma treatment on proteasome inhibitor-relapsed or -refractory myeloma, however, remains unknown. We now demonstrate that myxoma-based elimination of myeloma is not affected by cellular resistance to proteasome inhibitors. Additionally, myxoma virus infection specifically prevents expression of Mcl1 following induction of the unfolded protein response, by blocking translation of the unfolded protein response activating transcription factor (ATF)4. These results suggest that myxoma-based oncolytic therapy represents an attractive option for myeloma patients whose disease is refractory to chemotherapeutic proteasome inhibitors due to upregulation of Mcl1.