Atherton et al. designed a heterologous vaccination strategy consisting of an adenoviral prime encoding a mutated quadrivalent E6E7 transgene (based on HPV serotypes 16 and 18) that does not disrupt p53 or retinoblastoma, followed by a boost with the oncolytic MG1-Maraba virus containing the same mutant E6E7 transgene; this cured 75% of mice bearing large established TC1 tumors. MG1-E6E7 altered the transcriptional profile of the tumor microenvironment and demonstrated preferential replication within human HPV+ tumor biopsies.
The viral transforming proteins E6 and E7 make human papilloma virus positive (HPV+) malignancies an attractive target for cancer immunotherapy. However, therapeutic vaccination exerts limited efficacy in the setting of advanced disease. We designed a strategy to induce substantial specific immune responses against multiple epitopes of E6 and E7 proteins based on an attenuated transgene from HPV serotypes 16 and 18 that is incorporated into MG1-Maraba virotherapy (MG1-E6E7). Mutations introduced to the transgene abrogate the ability of E6 and E7 to perturb p53 and retinoblastoma, respectively, while maintaining the ability to invoke tumor-specific, multi-functional CD8+ T-cell responses. Boosting with MG1-E6E7 significantly increased the magnitude of T-cell responses compared to mice treated with a priming vaccine alone (greater than 50x106 E7-specific CD8+ T cells per mouse was observed, representing a 39-fold mean increase in boosted animals). MG1-E6E7 vaccination in the HPV+ murine model TC1clears large tumors in a CD8+-dependent manner and results in durable immunologic memory. MG1-Maraba can acutely alter the tumor microenvironment in vivo and exploit molecular hallmarks of HPV+ cancer as demonstrated by marked infection of HPV+ patient tumor biopsies and is, therefore, ideally suited as an oncolytic treatment against clinical HPV+ cancer. This approach has the potential to be directly translatable to human clinical oncology to tackle a variety of HPV-associated neoplasms that cause significant morbidity and mortality globally.
Author Info: (1) McMaster Immunology Research Centre, Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University. (2) Turnstone Biologics. (3) McMaster Immunology Research Centre, Depa
Author Info: (1) McMaster Immunology Research Centre, Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University. (2) Turnstone Biologics. (3) McMaster Immunology Research Centre, Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University. (4) McMaster Immunology Research Centre, Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University. (5) McMaster Immunology Research Centre, Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University. (6) Stojdl Lab, CHEO Research Institute, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario. (7) Turnstone Biologics. (8) McMaster Immunology Research Centre, Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University. (9) McMaster Immunology Research Centre, Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University. (10) McMaster Immunology Research Centre, Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University. (11) Department of Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery, The Ottawa Hospital. (12) Surgery, The Ottawa Hospital. (13) Centre for Cancer Therapeutics, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute; and Faculty of Medicine and the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Ottawa. (14) Centre for Cancer Therapeutics, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute; and Faculty of Medicine and the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Ottawa. (15) McMaster Immunology Research Centre, Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University. (16) McMaster Immunology Research Centre, Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University lichtyb@mcmaster.ca.
