@phdthesis{Hauff2009, author = {Hauff, Cornelia}, title = {Aspects of the mode of action of bispecific T cell engager (BiTE) antibodies}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-48369}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2009}, abstract = {Bispecific T cell engager (BiTE) display a novel design among the class of bispecific antibodies and hold great promise to fight diverse cancers. BiTE molecules consist of two different binding entities derived from two human IgG antibodies connected by a short peptide linker. Their binding arms are directed against the CD3e chain of the T cell receptor on T cells and against an antigen that is specific for (e.g., CD19 for lymphoma in MT103) or over-expressed on (e.g., EpCAM for epithelial cancer in MT110) tumor cells. Without requirement for pre- or co-stimulation, BiTE molecules efficiently redirect CD3+ T cells towards tumor cells expressing the relevant target antigen. Only a BiTE molecule simultaneously bound to both tumor cell and T cell activates the T cell to exert its cytolytic function resulting in tumor cell death. In T cells stimulated with both BiTE and target cells, elevated levels of caspase activation and increased expression of cytotoxic and signaling proteins are observed. These include cytolytic proteins granzyme B and perforin, activation markers CD69 and CD25 and adhesion molecules CD2 and LFA-1. Activated T cells secrete the usual mix of cytokines, among them pro-inflammatory cytokines IFN-g and TNF-a. The membrane of tumor cells expressing the relevant target antigen is perforated during the attack of BiTE-stimulated effector cells as can be concluded from adenylate kinase release from the cytosol of tumor cells. Ca2+-chelator EGTA completely blocked BiTE-mediated activation of caspases and tumor cell lysis. As perforin is strictly Ca2+-dependent, a major role for this pore-forming protein is assumed for the elimination of tumor cells via BiTE-stimulated T cells. Granzyme B and caspases are main players in BiTE-mediated elimination of tumor cells. Inhibitors of granzyme B or caspases reduce or block, respectively the activation of caspases. However, other signals of apoptosis (cleavage of PARP and fragmentation of DNA) were only reduced by granzyme B inhibitor or caspase inhibitor. Most interestingly, the lytic capacity of BiTE molecules was not impaired by granzyme B inhibitor or caspase inhibitor. It seems that there is no requirement for granzyme B and caspases to be present simultaneously. Instead the data presented provide evidence that they can be replaced one at a time by related proteins. Pre-incubation of effector cells with the glucocorticoids dexamethasone or methylprednisolone resulted in markedly decreased secretion of cytokines by T cells yet only a small reduction in the expression of activation markers and adhesion molecules on T cells and specific lysis of tumor cells upon BiTE stimulation. Soluble factors secreted in an undirected manner by BiTE-stimulated T cells do not mediate tumor cell death by themselves. Bystander cells negative for the antigen that is recognized by the BiTE molecule will not be compromised by BiTE activity. The cytokine TGF-b reduced proliferation as well as granzyme B and perforin expression of BiTE-stimulated T cells. Redirected lysis by BiTE-activated T cells was also decreased under the influence of TGF-b, however lysis was still performed at a reasonable rate (72 \% of target cells). TGF-b does not exert a deleterious effect on lytic potential of BiTE-stimulated T cells. The minimal anticipated biological effect level for the BiTE MT110 was determined for the entry of MT110 into phase I clinical studies. Experiments analyzing redirected lysis of tumor cells, expression of activation marker CD25 and cytokine release by T cells revealed a MABEL value of 50 pg/ml for MT110.}, subject = {Antik{\"o}rper}, language = {en} } @article{CecilGentschevAdelfingeretal.2019, author = {Cecil, Alexander and Gentschev, Ivaylo and Adelfinger, Marion and Dandekar, Thomas and Szalay, Aladar A.}, title = {Vaccinia virus injected human tumors: oncolytic virus efficiency predicted by antigen profiling analysis fitted boolean models}, series = {Bioengineered}, volume = {10}, journal = {Bioengineered}, number = {1}, doi = {10.1080/21655979.2019.1622220}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-200507}, pages = {190-196}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Virotherapy on the basis of oncolytic vaccinia virus (VACV) strains is a promising approach for cancer therapy. Recently, we showed that the oncolytic vaccinia virus GLV-1h68 has a therapeutic potential in treating human prostate and hepatocellular carcinomas in xenografted mice. In this study, we describe the use of dynamic boolean modeling for tumor growth prediction of vaccinia virus-injected human tumors. Antigen profiling data of vaccinia virus GLV-1h68-injected human xenografted mice were obtained, analyzed and used to calculate differences in the tumor growth signaling network by tumor type and gender. Our model combines networks for apoptosis, MAPK, p53, WNT, Hedgehog, the T-killer cell mediated cell death, Interferon and Interleukin signaling networks. The in silico findings conform very well with in vivo findings of tumor growth. Similar to a previously published analysis of vaccinia virus-injected canine tumors, we were able to confirm the suitability of our boolean modeling for prediction of human tumor growth after virus infection in the current study as well. In summary, these findings indicate that our boolean models could be a useful tool for testing of the efficacy of VACV-mediated cancer therapy already before its use in human patients.}, language = {en} } @article{SchmitzRiesKodereretal.2021, author = {Schmitz, Werner and Ries, Elena and Koderer, Corinna and V{\"o}lter, Maximilian Friedrich and W{\"u}nsch, Anna Chiara and El-Mesery, Mohamed and Frackmann, Kyra and K{\"u}bler, Alexander Christian and Linz, Christian and Seher, Axel}, title = {Cysteine restriction in murine L929 fibroblasts as an alternative strategy to methionine restriction in cancer therapy}, series = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences}, volume = {22}, journal = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences}, number = {21}, issn = {1422-0067}, doi = {10.3390/ijms222111630}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-265486}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Methionine restriction (MetR) is an efficient method of amino acid restriction (AR) in cells and organisms that induces low energy metabolism (LEM) similar to caloric restriction (CR). The implementation of MetR as a therapy for cancer or other diseases is not simple since the elimination of a single amino acid in the diet is difficult. However, the in vivo turnover rate of cysteine is usually higher than the rate of intake through food. For this reason, every cell can enzymatically synthesize cysteine from methionine, which enables the use of specific enzymatic inhibitors. In this work, we analysed the potential of cysteine restriction (CysR) in the murine cell line L929. This study determined metabolic fingerprints using mass spectrometry (LC/MS). The profiles were compared with profiles created in an earlier work under MetR. The study was supplemented by proliferation studies using D-amino acid analogues and inhibitors of intracellular cysteine synthesis. CysR showed a proliferation inhibition potential comparable to that of MetR. However, the metabolic footprints differed significantly and showed that CysR does not induce classic LEM at the metabolic level. Nevertheless, CysR offers great potential as an alternative for decisive interventions in general and tumour metabolism at the metabolic level.}, language = {en} }