A novel MVMp-based vector system specifically designed to reduce the risk of replication-competent virus generation by homologous recombination.

Recent work highlights the potential usefulness of MVM-based vectors as selective vehicles for cancer gene therapy (Dupont et al, Gene Therapy, 2000; 7: 790-796). To implement this strategy, however, it is necessary to develop optimized methods for producing high-titer, helper-free parvovirus stocks. Recombinants of MVMp (rMVMp) are currently generated by transiently co-transfecting permissive cell lines with a plasmid carrying the vector genome and a helper plasmid expressing the capsid genes (replaced with a foreign gene in the vector genome). The resulting stocks, however, are always heavily contaminated with replication-competent viruses (RCV), which precludes their use in vivo and particularly in gene therapy. In the present work we have developed a second-generation MVMp-based vector system specifically designed to reduce the probability of RCV generation by homologous recombination. We have constructed a new MVMp-based vector and a new helper genome with minimal sequence overlap and have used the degeneracy of the genetic code to further decrease vector-helper homology. In this system, the left homologous region was almost completely eliminated and the right sequence overlap was reduced to 74 nt with only 61% homology. We were thus able to substantially reduce ( approximately 200 x), but not completely eliminate, generation of contaminating viruses in medium-scale rMVMp preparations. Since the remaining sequence homology between the new vector and helper genomes is weak, our results suggest that contaminating viruses in this system are generated by nonhomologous recombination. It is important to note, unlike the autonomously replicating helper viruses produced from the first-generation vector/helper genomes, the contaminating viruses arising from the new packaging system cannot initiate secondary infection rounds (so they are not 'replication-competent viruses'). Our findings have important implications for the design of new MVMp-based vectors and for the construction of trans-complementing packaging cell lines.

Xath2, a bHLH gene expressed during a late transition stage of neurogenesis in the forebrain of Xenopus embryos.

We have identified a Xenopus bHLH gene, Xath2, which is the homologue of the murine MATH-2/NEX-1 gene, using a functional expression screening approach. Overexpression of this gene in neurula embryos induces the expression of the N-tubulin neuronal marker but does not stimulate the expression of the X-ngnr-1 and NeuroD proneural genes. Expression of Xath2 begins in stage 32 embryos and is restricted to the dorsal telencephalon. Within the neuroepithelium of the dorsal telencephalon, Xath2 expression is detected in postmitotic cells located more laterally than those expressing several other related bHLH neuronal regulators.

Cloning and sequencing of defective particles derived from the autonomous parvovirus minute virus of mice for the construction of vectors with minimal cis-acting sequences.

The production of wild-type-free stocks of recombinant parvovirus minute virus of mice [MVM(p)] is difficult due to the presence of homologous sequences in vector and helper genomes that cannot easily be eliminated from the overlapping coding sequences. We have therefore cloned and sequenced spontaneously occurring defective particles of MVM(p) with very small genomes to identify the minimal cis-acting sequences required for DNA amplification and virus production. One of them has lost all capsid-coding sequences but is still able to replicate in permissive cells when nonstructural proteins are provided in trans by a helper plasmid. Vectors derived from this particle produce stocks with no detectable wild-type MVM after cotransfection with new, matched, helper plasmids that present no homology downstream from the transgene.

XSIP1, a Xenopus zinc finger/homeodomain encoding gene highly expressed during early neural development.

We have isolated a Xenopus homologue of the zinc finger/homeodomain-containing transcriptional repressor Smad-interacting protein-1 (SIP1) from mouse. XSIP1 is activated at the early gastrula stage and transcription occurs throughout embryogenesis. At the beginning of gastrulation, XSIP1 is strongly expressed in prospective neurectoderm. At the neurula stage, XSIP1 is highly expressed within the neural plate but weakly in the dorsal midline. At later stages of development transcripts are detected primarily within the neural tube and neural crest. In the adult, XSIP1 expression is detected at variable levels in several organs.

Tumor-selective gene transduction and cell killing with an oncotropic autonomous parvovirus-based vector.

A recombinant MVMp of the fibrotropic strain of minute virus of mice (MVMp) expressing the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter gene was used to infect a series of biologically relevant cultured cells, normal or tumor-derived, including normal melanocytes versus melanoma cells, normal mammary epithelial cells versus breast adenocarcinoma cells, and normal neurons or astrocytes versus glioma cells. As a reference cell system we used normal human fibroblasts versus the SV40-transformed fibroblast cell line NB324K. After infection, we observed good expression of the reporter gene in the different tumor cell types, but only poor expression if any in the corresponding normal cells. We also constructed a recombinant MVMp expressing the green fluorescent protein reporter gene and assessed by flow cytometry the efficiency of gene transduction into the different target cells. At a multiplicity of infection of 30, we observed substantial transduction of the gene into most of the tumor cell types tested, but only marginal transduction into normal cells under the same experimental conditions. Finally, we demonstrated that a recombinant MVMp expressing the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase gene can, in vitro, cause efficient killing of most tumor cell types in the presence of ganciclovir, whilst affecting normal proliferating cells only marginally if at all. However, in the same experimental condition, breast tumor cells appeared to be resistant to GCV-mediated cytotoxicity, possibly because these cells are not susceptible to the bystander effect. Our data suggest that MVMp-based vectors could prove useful as selective vehicles for anticancer gene therapy, particularly for in vivo delivery of cytotoxic effector genes into tumor cells.

Cellular contaminants of adeno-associated virus vector stocks can enhance transduction.

Transduction efficiency of different types of recombinant (r)AAV-2 based vectors preparations markedly differed, with apparently no correlation with the replicative titers. Using HeLa cells as target for transduction, 105 and 30 infectious units were necessary to observe one transductant using respectively cesium-chloride-purified rAAV and crude lysates of producer cells obtained by sonication. The purified vectors were however able to transduce HEK-193 cells efficiently, but transgene expression was detected with some delay compared with crude lysates. The unexpected high transduction efficiency of sonicated crude lysates was due to virally mediated gene transfer, since similar sonicated crude lysates, but with no AAV rep and cap genes, did not lead to detection of transgene products after incubation with HeLa cells. Furthermore, sonicated cellular extracts of 293 or 293/T cells given in trans stimulate transduction of HeLa cells by purified rAAV. In contrast, neither extracts from the adenovirus E1-transformed 911 cell line, nor from other cell lines not harboring any adenovirus gene, had enhancing effect on rAAV-mediated transduction. These data suggest that 293 sonicated extracts contain factors which stimulate rAAV-mediated transduction of cells that are normally poorly transduced and offer a system to identify such factors and to characterize further the steps limiting the transfer of gene by AAV vectors.

Nanomolar range docetaxel treatment sensitizes MCF-7 cells to chemotherapy induced apoptosis, induces G2M arrest and phosphorylates bcl-2.

Docetaxel (Taxotere), a member of the taxoid family of chemotherapy drugs is currently being tested in clinical trials simultaneously with other apoptosis inducing drugs like doxorubicin. We show, in vitro, in MCF-7 breast cancer cells that when it is used at doses as low as 5nM, 24 hours before either doxorubicin or etoposide, docetaxel is capable of inducing a significant increase in cell death compared to the reverse sequence or simultaneous treatment. We further show that this increase in cell death is due to an increase in apoptosis, and that this sensitization coincides with a docetaxel induced G2-M arrest and phosphorylation of the bcl-2 oncoprotein. We speculate that this phosphorylation of the apoptosis blocker bcl-2 might be responsible for the sensitization, and we suggest a clinical study comparing a 24 hour docetaxel pretreatment to the current simultaneous schedules.

Method for concentrating and purifying recombinant autonomous parvovirus vectors designed for tumour-cell-targeted gene therapy.

Recent work has highlighted the use of parvoviruses as potential vectors for tumour-cell-targeted gene therapy. The oncotropic properties of the prototype strain of minute virus of mice (MVMp) suggest that this virus might be a useful vehicle for introducing selectively therapeutic genes, e.g. lymphokine or suicide genes, into tumour cells and preferentially expressing them. But the low titre of recombinant virus stocks (10(5)-10(6) infectious units per ml) and their high level of contamination by cell proteins make it practically impossible to evaluate their efficacy in in vivo systems. A technique is described for producing cellular contaminant-free stocks of recombinant virus particles, with titres up to 5 x 10(8) IU/ml.

Gene therapy for cancer.

This review looks at various gene therapy strategies that are currently being investigated either in experimental studies or in clinical trials. These approaches attempt to either enhance the antitumor immune response of the host, express conditional toxins specifically in tumor cells, reverse the transformed phenotype of tumor cells, or protect normal tissues against the toxicities of conventional treatments.

Nucleolin forms a specific complex with a fragment of the viral (minus) strand of minute virus of mice DNA.

Nucleolin, a major nucleolar protein, forms a specific complex with the genome (a single-stranded DNA molecule of minus polarity) of parvovirus MVMp in vitro. By means of South-western blotting experiments, we mapped the binding site to a 222-nucleotide motif within the non-structural transcription unit, referred to as NUBE (nucleolin-binding element). The specificity of the interaction was confirmed by competitive gel retardation assays. DNaseI and nuclease S1 probing showed that NUBE folds into a secondary structure, in agreement with a computer-assisted conformational prediction. The whole NUBE may be necessary for the interaction with nucleolin, as suggested by the failure of NUBE subfragments to bind the protein and by the nuclease footprinting experiments. The present work extends the previously reported ability of nucleolin to form a specific complex with ribosomal RNA, to a defined DNA substrate. Considering the tropism of MVMp DNA replication for host cell nucleoli, these data raise the possibility that nucleolin may contribute to the regulation of the parvoviral life-cycle.

NS-1 and NS-2 proteins may act synergistically in the cytopathogenicity of parvovirus MVMp.

The interaction of parvovirus minute virus of mice (prototype strain, MVMp) with simian virus 40 (SV40)-transformed human cells (NB-E) was investigated by means of transfection with MVMp molecular clones derived from the infectious recombinant plasmid (pMM984). pMM984 inhibits stable transformation of NB-E cells to geneticin resistance (G418R) upon cotransfection with the selectable pSV2neo plasmid. We show here that this inhibition is not merely caused by a repression of marker gene expression from the SV40 early region promoter in pSV2neo and rather is likely to reflect the cytotoxic action of the parvovirus. Starting from plasmid pMM984, defined mutations were introduced into the genome of MVMp and more particularly into sequences coding for the NS-1 and/or NS-2 nonstructural proteins. In this way we could show that the NS-1 protein is necessary for the inhibition of transformation to G418R and that the NS-2 protein acts synergistically to enhance this effect. Moreover, results obtained with different viral mutants indicate that the inhibitory action of NS-1 on stable transformation can be dissociated from the ability of this protein both to transactivate the parvoviral p39 promoter of the capsid protein-encoding region and to drive parvoviral DNA amplification. Altogether these data point to a probable direct toxicity of MVMp nonstructural proteins for permissive host cells.

Identification of a transformation-sensitive nuclear protein from normal human fibroblasts that specifically interacts with minute virus of mice DNA and correlates with cell resistance to the parvovirus.

Normal human fibroblasts (MRC-5, KMS-6) were compared to transformed derivatives induced by SV40 (MRC-5V1) or gamma rays (KMST-6) for the expression of nuclear proteins that interact with the genome of minute virus of mice (MVMp), using the southwestern blot technique. A protein of 100-104 kDa apparent molecular weight was found to form a specific complex with MVMp DNA and to have an especially high affinity for the 3' terminal portion of the viral genome. This protein (p102) was differentially expressed by normal and transformed cells, i.e., its availability or DNA binding activity (or both) was much reduced in the transformants. A high level of p102 cosegregated with resistance to MVMp in cell hybrids between normal human and transformed mouse fibroblasts. Taken altogether these data suggest that the p102 protein may be a candidate for a transformation-sensitive cellular marker and for a negative regulator of parvovirus replication.

Positive selection of human cells lacking several transformation parameters from an SV40-transformed culture by means of parvovirus H-1.

The simian virus 40 (SV40)-transformed, newborn human kidney cell line NB-F was found to be heterogeneous with respect to its sensitivity to parvovirus H-1. The majority of the cells sustain a productive H-1 infection which eventually causes their lysis. Yet, a small fraction of the cells appears to be much less susceptible to H-1. Such a resistance to H-1 infection is a stable, transmissible property of this subpopulation of cells which was denoted NB-FR. The heterogeneity of NB-F cells is also apparent from the distribution of their karyotypes, which is bimodal and peaks at 114 and 46 chromosomes/cell. In contrast, the great majority of NB-FR cells contain 41-50 chromosomes. H-1-resistant and -sensitive cells appear to be related in several respects: they both contain morphologically human chromosomes as well as multiple SV40 DNA inserts, and could not be distinguished by isoenzyme typing. It was investigated whether the degree of sensitivity to H-1 infection correlated with other phenotypic properties of the human cell derivatives. NB-F cultures exhibit a series of transformation parameters, such as SV40 T-antigen expression, poor contact inhibition, clonogenicity in semi-solid medium and high lectin agglutinability, which are all much reduced or even undetectable in NB-FR cells. These observations suggest that cell susceptibility to H-1 segregates with marker(s) of in vitro malignant transformation. Moreover, the data indicate that parvoviruses can be used to preferentially remove transformants from a mixed culture of normal and transformed cells.

Transformation of human fibroblasts by ionizing radiation, a chemical carcinogen, or simian virus 40 correlates with an increase in susceptibility to the autonomous parvoviruses H-1 virus and minute virus of mice.

Morphologically altered and established human fibroblasts, obtained either by 60Co gamma irradiation, treatment with the carcinogen 4-nitroquinoline 1-oxide, or simian virus 40 (SV40) infection, were compared with their normal finite-life parental strains for susceptibility to the autonomous parvoviruses H-1 virus and the prototype strain of minute virus of mice (MVMp). All transformed cells suffered greater virus-induced killing than their untransformed progenitors. The cytotoxic effect of H-1 virus was more severe than that of MVMp. Moreover, the level of viral DNA replication was much (10- to 85-fold) enhanced in the transformants compared with their untransformed parent cells. Thus, in this system, cell transformation appears to correlate with an increase in both DNA amplification and cytotoxicity of the parvoviruses. However, the accumulation of parvovirus DNA in the transformants was not always accompanied by the production of infectious virus. Like in vitro-transformed fibroblasts, a fibrosarcoma-derived cell line was sensitive to the killing effect of both H-1 virus and MVMp and amplified viral DNA to high extents. The results indicate that oncogenic transformation can be included among cellular states which modulate permissiveness to parvoviruses under defined growth conditions.

Selective killing of simian virus 40-transformed human fibroblasts by parvovirus H-1.

A normal strain of human foreskin fibroblasts, two SV40-transformed derivatives with finite and infinite life spans, and an established line of SV40-transformed newborn human kidney cells are compared for their susceptibility to infection with parvovirus H-1. H-1 inocula, which do not detectably alter the growth of normal cells, cause a progressive degeneration of all three SV40-transformed cultures. The resistance of normal cells is not a membrane phenomenon since they adsorb and take up H-1 as efficiently as the transformants. Moreover, the fraction of infected cells supporting the synthesis and nuclear migration of H-1 proteins is similar in normal and SV40-transformed cultures. On the other hand, the enhanced H-1 sensitivity of transformed cells correlates with a 5- to 30-fold increase in their accumulation of newly synthesized parvoviral DNA, as compared with normal cultures. This stimulation of H-1 DNA replication is most pronounced for the amplification of duplex replicative forms, although the conversion of parental single-stranded DNA to replicative forms is also enhanced to a smaller extent. In addition, SV40-transformed cells support productive H-1 infection and release a burst of infectious virus, whereas no H-1 production can be detected in the normal cell strain. The latter difference was confirmed for another series of 7 normal and 16 SV40-transformed strains of human skin fibroblasts. Altogether, these results indicate that intracellular limitations on H-1 DNA replication are associated with the abortive nature of the parvoviral life cycle in normal human fibroblasts and are overcome after SV40 transformation, resulting in the selective killing of the transformants. This observation raises the possibility that oncolysis might contribute to the oncosuppressive activity displayed by parvoviruses in vivo.

The genome structure of a new chicken virus identifies it as a parvovirus.

The nucleic acid of chicken parvovirus-like particles showed sensitivity to DNase and S1 nuclease treatment and resistance to digestion with RNase. Viral DNA readily served as a template for self-primed conversion in vitro into a double-stranded form of about 5200 base pairs. There was no evidence for encapsidation of strands of opposite polarities. These findings confirm the taxonomic classification of chicken parvovirus-like particles as fowl parvovirus type 1 within the Parvovirus genus of the Parvoviridae.

Mutagenesis at putative apurinic sites in alkylated single-stranded DNA of parvovirus H-1 propagated in human cells.

The treatment of parvovirus H-1, a single-stranded DNA virus, with ethylnitrosourea immediately prior to infection of human cells, resulted in both virus mutagenesis and lethality (immediate hits). The incubation of treated virus, prior to inoculation, under conditions promoting the release of alkylated bases, slightly reduced the mutagenicity of ethylnitrosourea but significantly increased its killing effect (delayed hits). In untreated cells, the appearance of one apurinic/apyrimidinic site in viral DNA correlated with the formation of approximately one delayed lethal hit per virus. Cells which had been sublethally UV irradiated prior to infection, were able to overcome about 20% of the delayed lethal hits inflicted to ethylnitrosourea-treated H-1. This UV-enhanced reactivation was accompanied by viral mutagenesis and was not observed for immediate lethal hits. Therefore, UV irradiation of human cells appears to trigger a conditioned recovery response which might alleviate a block to the replication of single-stranded DNA containing apurinic sites, allowing these noncoding lesions to direct mutagenesis. UV-irradiated cells also displayed a mutator phenotype towards untreated parvovirus H-1. In contrast, ethylnitrosourea failed to induce human cells to cause mutagenesis of undamaged viral DNA, although it enhanced their ability to reactivate damaged virus.

Inhibition and recovery of the replication of depurinated parvovirus DNA in mouse fibroblasts.

Apurinic sites were introduced in the single-stranded DNA of parvovirus minute-virus-of-mice (MVM) and their effect on viral DNA synthesis was measured in mouse fibroblasts. Approximately one apurinic site per viral genome, is sufficient to block its replication in untreated cells. The exposure of host cells to a sublethal dose of UV-light 15 hours prior to virus infection, enhances their ability to support the replication of depurinated MVM. Cell preirradiation induces the apparent overcome of 10-15% of viral DNA replication blocks. These results indicate that apurinic sites prevent mammalian cells from replicating single-stranded DNA unless a recovery process is activated by cell UV-irradiation.