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Research Articles

Intratumoral expression of respiratory syncytial virus fusion protein in combination with cytokines encoded by adenoviral vectors as in situ tumor vaccine for colorectal cancer

Department of Molecular and Medical Virology, Institute of Microbiology and Hygiene, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany

Requests for reprints: Oliver Wildner, Department of Molecular and Medical Virology, Institute of Microbiology and Hygiene, Ruhr-University Bochum, Room 6/40, Building MA, D-44801 Bochum, Germany. Phone: 49-234-32-27834; Fax: 49-234-32-14352. E-mail: Oliver.Wildner{at}ruhr-uni-bochum.de

Abstract

Although cancers can naturally elicit immune responses, immune ignorance is a common observation preventing immune-mediated elimination of tumor cells. We assessed whether intratumoral expression of respiratory syncytial virus fusion (RSV-F) protein, encoded by a replication-defective adenovirus vector (Ad.RSV-F), alone or in combination with local coexpression of cytokines can induce tumor-specific immune responses in a syngeneic murine colon cancer model. We confirmed in vitro by dye colocalization that transduction of murine cells with Ad.RSV-F induces cell-cell fusion. In vivo, we showed in a bilateral syngeneic s.c. colon cancer model in C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice that intratumoral injection of Ad.RSV-F leads to a significant volume reduction not only of the directly vector-treated tumor but also of the contralateral not directly vector-treated tumor. The intratumoral administration of Ad.RSV-F in combination with adenovirus vectors encoding interleukin (IL)-2, IL-12, IL-18, IL-21, or granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor significantly enhanced the antitumor effect on the directly vector-treated tumor and also on the contralateral tumor. The antineoplastic efficacy of this combined treatment was significantly higher than that of the individual treatment components and was associated with the induction of a tumor-specific CTL response and increased infiltration of the tumors by natural killer cells and macrophages. Intratumoral coexpression of RSV-F and IL-21 resulted in the highest tumor growth inhibition and improved survival. Our experimental data indicate that intratumoral expression of RSV-F in combination with cytokines is a promising novel tool for the development of in situ tumor vaccination approaches. [Mol Cancer Ther 2007;6(7):1942–50]

Grant support: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and Wilhelm Sander-Stiftung (O. Wildner).

The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

Received 12/21/06; revised 4/18/07; accepted 5/30/07.