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. 2018 Sep 5;26(9):2315-2325.
doi: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2018.06.008. Epub 2018 Jun 19.

Personalized Cancer Vaccine Platform for Clinically Relevant Oncolytic Enveloped Viruses

Erkko Ylösmäki  1 , Cristina Malorzo  1 , Cristian Capasso  1 , Oona Honkasalo  1 , Manlio Fusciello  1 , Beatriz Martins  1 , Leena Ylösmäki  1 , Antti Louna  2 , Sara Feola  1 , Henrik Paavilainen  3 , Karita Peltonen  1 , Veijo Hukkanen  3 , Tapani Viitala  2 , Vincenzo Cerullo  4
Affiliations

Personalized Cancer Vaccine Platform for Clinically Relevant Oncolytic Enveloped Viruses

Erkko Ylösmäki et al. Mol Ther. .

Abstract

The approval of the first oncolytic virus for the treatment of metastatic melanoma and the compiling evidence that the use of oncolytic viruses can enhance cancer immunotherapies targeted against various immune checkpoint proteins has attracted great interest in the field of cancer virotherapy. We have developed a novel platform for clinically relevant enveloped viruses that can direct the virus-induced immune response against tumor antigens. By physically attaching tumor-specific peptides onto the viral envelope of vaccinia virus and herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1), we were able to induce a strong T cell-specific immune response toward these tumor antigens. These therapeutic peptides could be attached onto the viral envelope by using a cell-penetrating peptide sequence derived from human immunodeficiency virus Tat N-terminally fused to the tumor-specific peptides or, alternatively, therapeutic peptides could be conjugated with cholesterol for the attachment of the peptides onto the viral envelope. We used two mouse models of melanoma termed B16.OVA and B16-F10 for testing the efficacy of OVA SIINFEKL-peptide-coated viruses and gp100-Trp2-peptide-coated viruses, respectively, and show that by coating the viral envelope with therapeutic peptides, the anti-tumor immunity and the number of tumor-specific CD8+ T cells in the tumor microenvironment can be significantly enhanced.

Keywords: cancer; immunotherapy; viruses.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A Schematic Presentation of a PeptiENV-Cancer Vaccine Platform Anti-tumor immunity-inducing peptides can readily be attached into the envelope of clinically relevant oncolytic enveloped viruses, e.g., HSV-1 and vaccinia viruses. Various different peptides including MHC class I and II epitopes can be delivered by PeptiENV-platform for inducing potent activation of antigen-presenting cells and consequently increased T cell-specific immunological responses.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Physicochemical Characterization of PeptiENV Complexes (A) ELISA characterization of different C- and N-terminal conjugation strategies to attach FITC-labeled anti-tumor peptides into the viral envelope. An anti-virus antibody was coated to the bottom of 96-well plate, and PeptiENV complexes were incubated in the wells. After washing the unbound fraction, an anti-FITC HRP-conjugated antibody was used for the detection of the PeptiENV complexes. Each bar is the mean ± SEM of technical triplicates. (B) Surface plasmon resonance analysis of the interaction between the CPP Tat peptide and HSV-1 envelope. (C) Surface plasmon resonance analysis of the interaction between the CPP Tat peptide and VACV envelope.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Oncolytic Potency of PeptiENV Is Not Affected by the Attachment of Anti-tumor Peptides into the Viral Envelope The oncolytic properties of PeptiENV with vaccinia, vaccinia virus, and anti-tumor peptide alone were compared in five cancer cell lines using multiplicities of infection 1, 0.1, 0.01, and 0.001. After 3 days post-infection, the amount of living cells were measured and compared to the viability of uninfected cells. Each bar is the mean ± SEM of technical triplicates.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Antigen-Presenting Cells Can Readily Cross-Present Ovalbumin MHC Class I Epitope SIINFEKL from Peptides Used in a PeptiENV Platform (A) Mouse dendritic cell line Jaws II was pulsed with N-terminal cholesterol-conjugated PeptiENV peptide containing SIINFEKL, N-terminal CPP Tat fusion containing SIINFEKL, or SIINFEKL alone. Cross-presentation was determined by flow cytometry using APC-conjugated anti-H-2Kb bound to SIINFEKL. (B) Mouse bone-marrow-derived dendritic cells were infected with purified PeptiENV viruses complexed with peptides described in (A). Cross-presentation was determined by flow cytometry using APC-conjugated anti-H-2Kb bound to SIINFEKL. Each bar is the mean ± SEM of technical triplicates.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Bivalent PeptiENV Targeting OVA and Trp2 Can Induce Robust T Cell-Specific Immune Response toward Both Tumor Epitopes Naive C57BL/6J mice (n = 3/group) were immunized with purified PeptiENV complexed with both OVA- and Trp2-containing peptides or with peptides alone on days 1, 2, 3, and 10. Six days after the last treatment, mice were sacrificed and spleens were collected for the quantification of activated interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) secreting CD8+ cytotoxic T cells specific for the two tumor epitopes (SIINFEKL and SVYDFFVWL) by using a mouse interferon-gamma ELISPOT assay. Each bar is the mean ± SEM of six technical repeats and biological triplicates.
Figure 6
Figure 6
PeptiENV Targeting OVA Elicits Potent Anti-tumor Efficacy and Induces Robust Infiltration of Tumor-Specific CD8+ Effector T Cells into the Tumor in a Syngeneic Mouse Model of B16.OVA Melanoma (A–F) Tumor growth curves for each mouse/group are shown. C57BL/6 mice were inoculated subcutaneously in right flank with 3.5 × 105 B16.OVA melanoma cells and treated on days 11,13, and 19 with (C) OVA-PeptiENV VACV (n = 7), (B) VACV (n = 7), or (A) injection media alone as mock (n = 7), and in experiments using HSV-1 within the platform, mice were treated on days 10,12, and 18 with (F) OVA-PeptiENV HSV-1 (n = 7), (E) HSV-1 (n = 8), or (D) injection media alone as mock (n = 6). A threshold of 250 mm3 was set to define the percentage of mice responding to the different therapies (dotted line). The percentage of responders in each treatment group is shown on the right side of the dotted line. (G) The number of CD19−CD3+CD8+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes were evaluated for tumor antigen specificity (SIINFEKL-pentamer) for each group and plotted as fold increase over the mock group. (H) The number of CD19−CD3+CD8+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes were evaluated for virus antigen specificity (vaccinia-pentamer) for the OVA-PeptiENV VACV and VACV groups. (I) Kaplan-Meier survival curve for the OVA-PeptiENV VACV experiment. The median survival for each group is shown in the parentheses. Data shown as mean ± SEM. **p < 0.01; ns., not significant (one-way ANOVA or unpaired t test for H). Flow cytometry was performed with three biological replicates and two technical replicates from each sample.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Bivalent PeptiENV Targeting gp100 and Trp2 Induces Robust Infiltration of Tumor-Specific CD8+ Effector T Cells into the Tumor in a Syngeneic Mouse Model of B16-F10 Melanoma (A–C) Tumor growth curves for each mouse/group are shown. C57BL/6 mice were inoculated subcutaneously in right flank with 1 × 105 B16-F10 melanoma cells, and mice were treated on days 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, and 18 with (C) gp100/Trp2-PeptiENV VACV (n = 7), (B) VACV (n = 7), or (A) injection media alone as mock (n = 5). A threshold of 450 mm3 was set to define the percentage of mice responding to the different therapies (dotted line). The percentage of responders in each treatment group is shown on the right side of the dotted line. The percentage of CD19− CD8+ tumor-infiltrating gp100-specific CD8+ T cells (D) and CD19− CD8+ tumor-infiltrating Trp2-specific CD8+ T cells (E) of the total number of CD19− CD8+ cells were assessed for each group. Data shown as mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05 (one-way ANOVA). Flow cytometry was performed with three biological replicates and two technical replicates from each sample.
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