@phdthesis{Wang2011,
  author    = {Wang, Huiqiang},
  title     = {Enhanced Replication of Vaccinia Virus GLV-1h68 in Cancer Stem-like Cells of Human Breast Cancer Cell Preparations},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-64750},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2011},
  abstract  = {There is more and more evidence for the cancer stem cell hypothesis which believes that cancers are driven by a cellular subcomponent that has stem cell properties which is self-renewal, tumorigenicity and multilineage differentiation capacity. Cancer stem cells have been connected to the initiation of tumors and are even found to be responsible for relapses after apparently curative therapies have been undertaken. This hypothesis changes our conceptual approach of oncogenesis and shall have implications in breast cancer prevention, detection and treatment, especially in metastatic breast cancer for which no curative treatment exists. Given the specific stem cell features, novel therapeutic pathways can be targeted. Since the value of vaccinia virus as a vaccination virus against smallpox was discovered by E. Jenner at 18th century, it plays an important role in human medicine and molecular biology. After smallpox was successfully eradicated, vaccinia virus is mainly used as a viral vector in molecular biology and increasingly in cancer therapy. The outstanding capability to specifically target and destroy cancer cells makes it a perfect agent for oncolytic virotherapy. Furthermore, the virus can easily be modified by inserting genes which encode therapeutic or diagnostic proteins to be expressed when a tumor is infected. The emphasis in this study was the establishment of methods for the enrichment of human breast cancer stem-like cells from cancer cell lines and characterization of those cancer stem-like cells in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, by using the Genelux Corporation vaccinia virus strain GLV-1h68, the isolated cancer stem-like cells can be targeted not only in vitro but also in vivo more efficiently. Side-population (SP) cells within cancers and cell lines are rare cell populations known to be enriched cancer stem-like cells. In this study, we used Hoechst 33342 staining and flow cytometry to identify SP cells from the human breast cancer cell lines MCF-7 and GI-101A as models for cancer stem-like cells. Considering the cytotoxicity of Hoechst dye and the restriction of instrument, we did not carry out further studies by this method. Utilizing in vitro and in vivo experimental systems, we showed that human breast cancer cell line GI-101A with aldehyde dehydrogenase activity (ALDH) have stemlike properties. Higher ALDH activity identifies the tumorigenic cell fraction which is capable of self-renewal and of generating tumors that could recapitulate the heterogeneity of the parental tumor. Furthermore, the cells with higher ALDH activity display significant resistance to chemotherapy and ionizing radiation, which proves their stem-like properties again. The cells which have higher ALDH activity also are more invasive compared to cells which have lower ALDH activity, which connects the cancer stem-like cells with cancer metastases. By analyzing the popular human breast cancer stem cells surface markers CD44, CD49f and CD24, it was discovered that the cells with higher ALDH activity have stronger CD44 and CD49f expression than in those cells with lower ALDH activity, which further confirms their stem-like properties. Finally, the cells with higher ALDH activity and lower ALDH activity were infected in vitro and used in virotherapy in a mouse xenograft model was performed. The results indicated that the vaccinia virus GLV-1h68 can replicate in cells with higher ALDH activity more efficiently than cells with lower ALDH activity. GLV-1h68 also can selectively target and eradicate the xenograft tumors which were derived from cells with higher ALDH activity. The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a key developmental program that is often activated during cancer invasion and metastases. EMT was induced in immortalized human mammary epithelial cells (HMLEs) and in GI-101A cells, which results in the acquisition of mesenchymal traits and in the expression of stem cell markers. Furthermore, the EMT-induced GI-101A cells showed resistance to chemotherapy and invasion capacity. CD44+/CD24- cells were enriched during the EMT induction. Following flow cytometry sorting by using CD44, CD24 and ESA surface marker, the sorted cells were tested in a mouse model regarding tumorigenicity. Unexpectedly, we found that CD44+/CD24+/ESA+ cells could initiate tumors more efficiently rather than CD44+/CD24-/ESA+ and other fractions in EMTinduced GI-101A cells. We also infected the CD44+/CD24+/ESA+ and CD44+/CD24- /ESA+ cells in vitro and performed virotherapy in a mouse xenograft model. The results indicated that the vaccinia virus GLV-1h68 is able to replicate in CD44+/CD24+/ESA+ cells more efficiently than in CD44+/CD24-/ESA+ cells. GLV-1h68 was also capable to selectively target and eradicate the xenograft tumors which derived from CD44+/CD24+/ESA+ cells. Moreover, CD44- cells have much lower tumorigenicity in the mouse model and CD44- cells derived-tumors are not responsive to vaccinia virotherapy. In summary, we have successfully established an in vitro and in vivo system for the identification, characterization and isolation of cancer stem-like cells from the human breast cancer cell line GI-101A by using the ALDEFLUOR assay. The vaccinia virus GLV-1h68 was able to efficiently target and eradicate the higher ALDH activity cells and tumors derived from those cells. Although contrary to the current assumption, CD44+/CD24+/ESA+ cells in the EMT-induced GI-101A cell line showed stem-like properties and GLV-1h68 was able to efficiently target and eradicate the CD44+/CD24+/ESA+ cells and tumors which derived from those cells. Finally, improved understanding of cancer stem cells may have tremendous relevance for how cancer should be treated. It is menacing that cancer stem cells are resistant to almost all anti-tumor approaches which have already been established for the treatment of metastatic diseases such as ionizing radiation, hormonal therapy, chemotherapy, and small molecular inhibitors. Therefore, it is promising that our results suggest that these cancer stem cells may be susceptible to treatment with oncolytic vaccinia virus.},
  subject      = {Vaccinia Virus},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Haddad2011,
  author    = {Haddad, Dana},
  title     = {Design of oncolytic viruses for the imaging and treatment of cancer: The vaccinia construct GLV-1h153 carrying the human sodium iodide symporter},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-56441},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2011},
  abstract  = {Therapien mittels replikations-kompetenter onkolytischer Viren zeigten bereits vielversprechende Erfolge in klinischen Studien zur Bek{\"a}mpfung verschiedener Krebserkrankungen. Die Viren sind in der Lage, sich pr{\"a}ferentiell und selektiv in Krebszellen zu vermehren, wodurch das Tumorgewebe durch Zelllyse zerst{\"o}rt, das gesunde Gewebe jedoch nicht gesch{\"a}digt wird. Biopsien sind zurzeit der Gold-Standard zur {\"U}berwachung onkolytischer Virus Therapien. In der pr{\"a}klinischen und fr{\"u}hen klinischen Phasen ist dies auch durchf{\"u}hrbar, doch f{\"u}r weitere Studien am Menschen werden Methoden ben{\"o}tigt, die eine nicht-invasive {\"U}berwachung der Therapie erm{\"o}glichen. Das Nachverfolgen der Viren k{\"o}nnte Klinikern die M{\"o}glichkeit geben, die Verteilung der Viren im K{\"o}rper nachzuverfolgen, die Effizienz und therapeutische Effekte zu korrelieren bzw. die m{\"o}gliche virale Toxizit{\"a}t zu {\"u}berwachen. Im Fokus dieser Arbeit stand die Konstruktion und das Austesten des VACV Stamms GLV-1h153, welches das Gen f{\"u}r den humanen Natrium-Iodid-Symporter (hNIS) kodiert, das als Reportergen f{\"u}r nicht-invasive bildgebende Nachverfolgung der Viren diente. Demzufolge diente das hier vorgestellte Projekt der Entwicklung von Bildgebungsverfahren, die in der onkolytischen Virustherapie eingesetzt werden k{\"o}nnen. Weiterhin sollte als weitere Strategie zur Krebsbek{\"a}mpfung die M{\"o}glichkeit untersucht werden, mit Unterst{\"u}tzung der Viren eine gezielte Radiotherapie durchzuf{\"u}hren. Bei hNIS handelt es sich um ein intrinsisches Membranprotein welches den aktiven Transport und die Anreicherung von Iodid in Schilddr{\"u}senzellen und einigen anderen Geweben vermittelt. Zudem wird das Gen, neben einigen anderen humanen Genen, bereits in pr{\"a}klinischen Studien als Reportergen verwendet und wurde in klinischen Studien bereits zur Darstellung von Viren in Prostata-Krebspatienten benutzt. Der Transfer des hNIS-kodierenden Gens mittels viraler Vektoren k{\"o}nnte es erm{\"o}glichen, dass infizierte Tumorzellen Tr{\"a}ger-freie Radionuklidproben wie z.B. Iodid-124 (124I), Iodid-131 (131I), und 99m-Technecium Pertechtenate (99mTcO4), anreichern, welche schon lange f{\"u}r die Verwendung am Menschen zugelassen sind. Weitere Vorteile bei der Verwendung von hNIS als Reportergen humanen Ursprungs sind zum einen seine minimale Immunogenit{\"a}t und zum anderen die intrazellul{\"a}re Signalamplifikation durch die Transportfunktion des Systems. Der Stamm GLV1h153 wurde in der Pankreas-Adenokarzinom Zelllinie PANC-1 getestet. GLV-1h153 konnte diese Zellen infizieren, sich in ihnen replizieren und sie in Zellkultur schließlich ebenso effizient abt{\"o}ten wie GLV-1h68. Zudem wurde eine Dosis-abh{\"a}ngige Expression von hNIS in infizierten Zellen nachgewiesen. Immunfluoreszenzanalysen best{\"a}tigten den erfolgreichen Transport des Proteins an die Zellmembran bevor die Zelllyse stattfand, was die Zeit- und Dosis-abh{\"a}ngigen Aufnahme von 131I verst{\"a}rkte. In vivo war GLV-1h153, ebenso wie GLV-1h68, sicher und f{\"u}hrte zu einer effektiven Regression der Pankreasxenograft Tumoren. Die Infektion des Tumors wurde weiterhin durch optische Bildgebung und histologische Untersuchungen best{\"a}tigt. GLV-1h153 erm{\"o}glichte weiterhin die Bildgebung von Viren in Tumoren mittels 124I-abh{\"a}ngiger Positronen-Emissions-Tomographie (PET) sowie 99m-Technecium Pertechnat-abh{\"a}ngiger (99mTcO4) Gamma Szintigraphie. Die Darstellung konnte sowohl mit intratumoral, wie auch mit intraven{\"o}s applizierten Viren erfolgen, war quantitativ, und die Radiotracer konnten bis zu 24 bzw. sogar 48 h nach deren Injektion nachgewiesen werden. Die quantitative Analyse der Radionuklidaufnahme aus PET-Bildgebungsdaten korrelierte mit den Daten der Bioverteilungsdaten aus isolierten Gewebn. Autoradiographische Untersuchungen von GLV-1h153 infizierten Tumoren zeigten, dass das Vorhandensein von Viren (visualisiert durch die viral vermittelte GFP Expression), lebendes Gewebe und ausreichender Blutfluss ben{\"o}tigt werden, um die Aufnahme des Radiotracers in den Tumor zu erh{\"o}hen. Dosimetrische Analysen infizierter Tumoren zeigten das Potential f{\"u}r eine systemisch applizierte Radiotherapie des Tumors auf. So f{\"u}hrte eine Kombination aus GLV-1h153 mit 131I-Behandlung zu geringf{\"u}gig besseren therapeutischen Erfolgen, als eine alleinige Therapie mit GLV-1h153. Zusammengefasst, ist GLV-1h153 demnach ein vielversprechender Kandidat zur Behandlung von Bauchspeicheldr{\"u}senkrebs und zur nichtinvasiven Bildgebung der viralen Therapie. Die Ergebnisse untermauern die Notwendigkeit weiterer Untersuchungen und Entwicklungen in der Langzeitverfolgung viraler Therapien sowie synergistischer Effekte einer Radioiod-Kombinationstherapie mit dieser neuen therapeutischen und bildgebenden Substanzklasse.},
  subject      = {Onkolyse},
  language  = {en}
}