NanoBiT System and Hydrofurimazine for Optimized Detection of Viral Infection in Mice-A Novel in Vivo Imaging Platform.

Reporter genes are used to visualize intracellular biological phenomena, including viral infection. Here we demonstrate bioluminescent imaging of viral infection using the NanoBiT system in combination with intraperitoneal injection of a furimazine analogue, hydrofurimazine. This recently developed substrate has enhanced aqueous solubility allowing delivery of higher doses for in vivo imaging. The small high-affinity peptide tag (HiBiT), which is only 11 amino-acids in length, was engineered into a clinically used oncolytic adenovirus, and the complementary large protein (LgBiT) was constitutively expressed in tumor cells. Infection of the LgBiT expressing cells with the HiBiT oncolytic virus will reconstitute NanoLuc in the cytosol of the cell, providing strong bioluminescence upon treatment with substrate. This new bioluminescent system served as an early stage quantitative viral transduction reporter in vitro and also in vivo in mice, for longitudinal monitoring of oncolytic viral persistence in infected tumor cells. This platform provides novel opportunities for studying the biology of viruses in animal models.

Characterization of a replicating expanded tropism oncolytic reovirus carrying the adenovirus E4orf4 gene.

While the mammalian orthoreovirus type 3 dearing (reovirus T3D) infects many different tumour cells, various cell lines resist the induction of reovirus-mediated cell death. In an effort to increase the oncolytic potency, we introduced transgenes into the S1 segment of reovirus T3D. The adenovirus E4orf4 gene was selected as transgene since the encoded E4orf4 protein induces cell death in transformed cells. The induction of cell death by E4orf4 depends in part on its binding to phosphatase 2A (PP2A). In addition to the S1-E4orf4 reovirus, two other reoviruses were employed in our studies. The reovirus rS1-RFA encodes an E4orf4 double-mutant protein that cannot interact with PP2A and the rS1-iLOV virus encoding the fluorescent marker iLOV as a reporter. The replacement of the codons for the junction adhesion molecule-A (JAM-A) binding head domain of the truncated spike protein blocks the entry of these recombinant viruses via the reovirus receptor JAM-A. Instead these viruses rely on internalization via binding to sialic acids on the cell surface. This expands their tropism and allows infection of JAM-A-deficient tumour cells. Here we not only demonstrate the feasibility of this approach but also established that the cytolytic activity of these recombinant viruses is largely transgene independent.

Directed adenovirus evolution using engineered mutator viral polymerases.

Adenoviruses (Ads) are the most frequently used viruses for oncolytic and gene therapy purposes. Most Ad-based vectors have been generated through rational design. Although this led to significant vector improvements, it is often hampered by an insufficient understanding of Ad's intricate functions and interactions. Here, to evade this issue, we adopted a novel, mutator Ad polymerase-based, 'accelerated-evolution' approach that can serve as general method to generate or optimize adenoviral vectors. First, we site specifically substituted Ad polymerase residues located in either the nucleotide binding pocket or the exonuclease domain. This yielded several polymerase mutants that, while fully supportive of viral replication, increased Ad's intrinsic mutation rate. Mutator activities of these mutants were revealed by performing deep sequencing on pools of replicated viruses. The strongest identified mutators carried replacements of residues implicated in ssDNA binding at the exonuclease active site. Next, we exploited these mutators to generate the genetic diversity required for directed Ad evolution. Using this new forward genetics approach, we isolated viral mutants with improved cytolytic activity. These mutants revealed a common mutation in a splice acceptor site preceding the gene for the adenovirus death protein (ADP). Accordingly, the isolated viruses showed high and untimely expression of ADP, correlating with a severe deregulation of E3 transcript splicing.

Nonhuman Primate Adenoviruses of the Human Adenovirus B Species Are Potent and Broadly Acting Oncolytic Vector Candidates.

The use of human adenoviruses (hAds) as oncolytic agents has demonstrated considerable potential. However, their efficacy in clinical studies is generally moderate and often varies between patients. This may, in part, be attributable to variable pre-existing neutralizing immunity in patients, which can impact the antitumor efficacy and lead to response heterogeneity. Our aim was to isolate new Ads for the development of oncolytic vectors with low prevalence of neutralizing immunity in the human population. To this end, we isolated a collection of new nonhuman primate (nhp) Ads from stool samples of four great ape species held captive. We elected 12 isolates comprising the broadest genetic variability for further characterization. For three new nhpAds, all classified as the human adenovirus B (HAdV-B) species, no neutralizing activity could be detected when exposed to a preparation of immunoglobulins isolated from a pool of >1,000 donors as a surrogate of population immunity. In addition, the nhpAds of the HAdV-B species showed enhanced oncolytic potency compared to nhpAds of the HAdV-C species as well as to human adenovirus type 5 (HAdV-C5) in vitro when tested in a panel of 29 human cancer cell lines. Next-generation sequencing of the viral genomes revealed higher sequence similarity between hAds and nhpAds of HAdV-B compared to HAdV-C, which might underlie the differences in oncolytic ability. As a proof-of-concept, the Rb-binding domain of the E1A protein of the gorilla-derived HAdV-B nhpAd-lumc007 was deleted, thereby creating a new oncolytic derivative, which demonstrated increased oncolytic potential compared to HAdV-C5. Collectively, our data demonstrate that nhpAds of the HAdV-B species can serve as an alternative for the development of potent oncolytic Ad vectors with limited pre-existing neutralizing immunity in humans.

A potentially immunologically inert derivative of the reverse tetracycline-controlled transactivator.

The archetypical system for regulating heterologous gene expression in mammalian cells involves tetracycline-activated transactivators (rtTA). Binding of such transactivators to tet-operator-controlled promoters induces transcription. Immune responses directed against the transactivator proteins may limit the applicability of this system in immune-competent hosts. To circumvent such immune responses the immune evasion mechanism of the Epstein-Barr virus Nuclear-Antigen 1 was exploited. Our data show that fusion of the rtTA with the EBNA-1 derived Gly-Ala repeat yielded an efficient transactivator with no detectable activity in absence of inducer. Antigenic peptides of the fusion protein were not presented in MHC class I.

A lentiviral vector-based adenovirus fiber-pseudotyping approach for expedited functional assessment of candidate retargeted fibers.

BACKGROUND: Many studies aimed at retargeting adenovirus (Ad) rationally focus on genetic modification of fiber, which is the primary receptor-binding protein of Ad. Retargeted fibers ultimately require functional validation in the viral context. METHODS: Lentiviral vectors (LV) were used to express fiber variants in cells. Infections with a fiber gene-deleted Ad vector yielded fiber-pseudotyped viruses. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and slot blot-based assays probed target binding-ability of retargeted fibers. Differential treatments with an alkylating agent prior to western blot analysis allowed for examination of intra- and extracellular redox states of fibers. RESULTS: In the present study, LV-based fiber-pseudotyping of Ad is presented as an accelerated means to test new fibers. LV-mediated gene transfer yielded stable and uniform populations of fiber variant-expressing cells. These populations were found to effectively support fiber-pseudotyping of Ad. As a secondary objective of the study, we functionally assessed a chimeric fiber harboring a tumor antigen-directed single-chain antibody fragment (scFv). This fiber was shown to trimerize and achieve a degree of binding to its antigenic target. However, its capsid incorporation ability was impaired and, moreover, it was unable to confer a detectable level of target binding upon Ad. Importantly, subsequent analyses of this fiber revealed the improper folding of its scFv constituent. CONCLUSIONS: LV-based fiber-pseudotyping was established as a convenient method for testing modified fibers for functionality within Ad particles. Furthermore, a new chimeric fiber was found to be inadequate for Ad retargeting. The folding difficulties encountered for this particular fiber might be generally inherent to the use (i.e. for genetic Ad capsid incorporation) of complex, disulfide bridge-containing natural ligands.

Baculovirus-assisted Reovirus Infection in Monolayer and Spheroid Cultures of Glioma cells.

The mammalian orthoreovirus Type 3 Dearing has great potential as oncolytic agent in cancer therapy. One of the bottlenecks that hampers its antitumour efficacy in vivo is the limited tumour-cell infection and intratumoural distribution. This necessitates strategies to improve tumour penetration. In this study we employ the baculovirus Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus as a tool to expand the reovirus' tropism and to improve its spread in three-dimensional tumour-cell spheroids. We generated a recombinant baculovirus expressing the cellular receptor for reovirus, the Junction Adhesion Molecule-A, on its envelope. Combining these Junction Adhesion Molecule-A-expressing baculoviruses with reovirus particles leads to the formation of biviral complexes. Exposure of the reovirus-resistant glioblastoma cell line U-118 MG to the baculovirus-reovirus complexes results in efficient reovirus infection, high reovirus yields, and significant reovirus-induced cytopathic effects. As compared to the reovirus-only incubations, the biviral complexes demonstrated improved penetration and increased cell killing of three-dimensional U-118 MG tumour spheroids. Our data demonstrate that reovirus can be delivered with increased efficiency into two- and three-dimensional tumour-cell cultures via coupling the reovirus particles to baculovirus. The identification of baculovirus' capacity to penetrate into tumour tissue opens novel opportunities to improve cancer therapy by improved delivery of oncolytic viruses into tumours.

Isolation of reovirus T3D mutants capable of infecting human tumor cells independent of junction adhesion molecule-A.

Mammalian Reovirus is a double-stranded RNA virus with a distinctive preference to replicate in and lyse transformed cells. On that account, Reovirus type 3 Dearing (T3D) is clinically evaluated as oncolytic agent. The therapeutic efficacy of this approach depends in part on the accessibility of the reovirus receptor Junction Adhesion Molecule-A (JAM-A) on the target cells. Here, we describe the isolation and characterization of reovirus T3D mutants that can infect human tumor cells independent of JAM-A. The JAM-A-independent (jin) mutants were isolated on human U118MG glioblastoma cells, which do not express JAM-A. All jin mutants harbour mutations in the S1 segments close to the region that encodes the sialic acid-binding pocket in the shaft of the spike protein. In addition, two of the jin mutants encode spike proteins with a Q336R substitution in their head domain. The jin mutants can productively infect a wide range of cell lines that resist wt reovirus T3D infection, including chicken LMH cells, hamster CHO cells, murine endothelioma cells, human U2OS and STA-ET2.1 cells, but not primary human fibroblasts. The jin-mutants rely on the presence of sialic-acid residues on the cell surface for productive infection, as is evident from wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) inhibition experiments, and from the jin-reovirus resistance of CHO-Lec2 cells, which have a deficiency of sialic-acids on their glycoproteins. The jin mutants may be useful as oncolytic agents for use in tumors in which JAM-A is absent or inaccessible.

Adenoviral vectors stimulate glucagon transcription in human mesenchymal stem cells expressing pancreatic transcription factors.

Viral gene carriers are being widely used as gene transfer systems in (trans)differentiation and reprogramming strategies. Forced expression of key regulators of pancreatic differentiation in stem cells, liver cells, pancreatic duct cells, or cells from the exocrine pancreas, can lead to the initiation of endocrine pancreatic differentiation. While several viral vector systems have been employed in such studies, the results reported with adenovirus vectors have been the most promising in vitro and in vivo. In this study, we examined whether the viral vector system itself could impact the differentiation capacity of human bone-marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) toward the endocrine lineage. Lentivirus-mediated expression of Pdx-1, Ngn-3, and Maf-A alone or in combination does not lead to robust expression of any of the endocrine hormones (i.e. insulin, glucagon and somatostatin) in hMSCs. Remarkably, subsequent transduction of these genetically modified cells with an irrelevant early region 1 (E1)-deleted adenoviral vector potentiates the differentiation stimulus and promotes glucagon gene expression in hMSCs by affecting the chromatin structure. This adenovirus stimulation was observed upon infection with an E1-deleted adenovirus vector, but not after exposure to helper-dependent adenovirus vectors, pointing at the involvement of genes retained in the E1-deleted adenovirus vector in this phenomenon. Lentivirus mediated expression of the adenovirus E4-ORF3 mimics the adenovirus effect. From these data we conclude that E1-deleted adenoviral vectors are not inert gene-transfer vectors and contribute to the modulation of the cellular differentiation pathways.

Spacers increase the accessibility of peptide ligands linked to the carboxyl terminus of adenovirus minor capsid protein IX.

The efficiency and specificity of gene transfer with human adenovirus (hAd)-derived gene transfer vectors would be improved if the native viral tropism could be modified. Here, we demonstrate that the minor capsid protein IX (pIX), which is present in 240 copies in the Ad capsid, can be exploited as an anchor for heterologous polypeptides. Protein IX-deleted hAd5 vectors were propagated in hAd5 helper cells expressing pIX variants, with heterologous carboxyl-terminal extensions of up to 113 amino acids in length. The extensions evaluated consist of alpha-helical spacers up to 75 A in length and to which peptide ligands were fused. The pIX variants were efficiently incorporated into the capsids of Ad particles. On intact particles, the MYC-tagged-pIX molecules were readily accessible to anti-MYC antibodies, as demonstrated by electron microscopic analyses of immunogold-labeled virus particles. The labeling efficiency improved with increasing spacer length, suggesting that the spacers lift and expose the ligand at the capsid surface. Furthermore, we found that the addition of an integrin-binding RGD motif to the pIX markedly stimulated the transduction of coxsackievirus group B and hAd receptor-deficient endothelioma cells, demonstrating the utility of pIX modification in gene transfer. Our data demonstrate that the minor capsid protein IX can be used as an anchor for the addition of polypeptide ligands to Ad particles.