TY - JOUR A1 - Hill, Philip J. A1 - Stritzker, Jochen A1 - Scadeng, Miriam A1 - Geissinger, Ulrike A1 - Haddad, Daniel A1 - Basse-Lüsebrink, Thomas C. A1 - Gbureck, Uwe A1 - Jakob, Peter A1 - Szalay, Aladar A. T1 - Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Tumors Colonized with Bacterial Ferritin-Expressing \(Escherichia\) \(coli\) JF - PLoS ONE N2 - Background: Recent studies have shown that human ferritin can be used as a reporter of gene expression for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Bacteria also encode three classes of ferritin-type molecules with iron accumulation properties. Methods and Findings: Here, we investigated whether these bacterial ferritins can also be used as MRI reporter genes and which of the bacterial ferritins is the most suitable reporter. Bacterial ferritins were overexpressed in probiotic E. coli Nissle 1917. Cultures of these bacteria were analyzed and those generating highest MRI contrast were further investigated in tumor bearing mice. Among members of three classes of bacterial ferritin tested, bacterioferritin showed the most promise as a reporter gene. Although all three proteins accumulated similar amounts of iron when overexpressed individually, bacterioferritin showed the highest contrast change. By site-directed mutagenesis we also show that the heme iron, a unique part of the bacterioferritin molecule, is not critical for MRI contrast change. Tumor-specific induction of bacterioferritin-expression in colonized tumors resulted in contrast changes within the bacteria-colonized tumors. Conclusions: Our data suggest that colonization and gene expression by live vectors expressing bacterioferritin can be monitored by MRI due to contrast changes. KW - Blood-brain barrier KW - Gene-expression KW - Salmonella-typhimurium KW - Sugar-transport KW - Breast-tumors KW - MRI reporter KW - Iron-uptake KW - Proteins KW - Therapy KW - Mice Y1 - 2011 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-140920 VL - 6 IS - 10 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Szalay, Aladar A. A1 - Hill, Philip J. A1 - Stritzker, Jochen A1 - Scadeng, Miriam A1 - Geissinger, Ulrike A1 - Haddad, Daniel A1 - Basse-Lüsebrink, Thomas C. A1 - Gbureck, Uwe A1 - Jakob, Peter T1 - Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Tumors Colonized with Bacterial Ferritin-Expressing Escherichia coli N2 - Background: Recent studies have shown that human ferritin can be used as a reporter of gene expression for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Bacteria also encode three classes of ferritin-type molecules with iron accumulation properties. Methods and Findings: Here, we investigated whether these bacterial ferritins can also be used as MRI reporter genes and which of the bacterial ferritins is the most suitable reporter. Bacterial ferritins were overexpressed in probiotic E. coli Nissle 1917. Cultures of these bacteria were analyzed and those generating highest MRI contrast were further investigated in tumor bearing mice. Among members of three classes of bacterial ferritin tested, bacterioferritin showed the most promise as a reporter gene. Although all three proteins accumulated similar amounts of iron when overexpressed individually, bacterioferritin showed the highest contrast change. By site-directed mutagenesis we also show that the heme iron, a unique part of the bacterioferritin molecule, is not critical for MRI contrast change. Tumor-specific induction of bacterioferritin-expression in colonized tumors resulted in contrast changes within the bacteria-colonized tumors. Conclusions: Our data suggest that colonization and gene expression by live vectors expressing bacterioferritin can be monitored by MRI due to contrast changes KW - Escherichia coli Y1 - 2011 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-75789 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hess, Michael A1 - Stritzker, Jochen A1 - Härtl, Barbara A1 - Sturm, Julia A1 - Gentschev, Ivaylo A1 - Szalay, Aladar T1 - Bacterial glucuronidase as general marker for oncolytic virotherapy or other biological therapies N2 - Background: Oncolytic viral tumor therapy is an emerging field in the fight against cancer with rising numbers of clinical trials and the first clinically approved product (Adenovirus for the treatment of Head and Neck Cancer in China) in this field. Yet, until recently no general (bio)marker or reporter gene was described that could be used to evaluate successful tumor colonization and/or transgene expression in other biological therapies. Methods: Here, a bacterial glucuronidase (GusA) encoded by biological therapeutics (e.g. oncolytic viruses) was used as reporter system. Results: Using fluorogenic probes that were specifically activated by glucuronidase we could show 1) preferential activation in tumors, 2) rena l excretion of the activated fluorescent compounds and 3) reproducible detection of GusA in the serum of oncolytic vaccinia virus treated, tumor bearing mice in several tumor models. Time course studies revealed that reliable differentiation between tumor bearing and healthy mice can be done as early as 9 days post injection of the virus. Regarding the sensitivity of the newly developed assay system, we could show that a single infected tumor cell could be reliably detected in this assay. Conclusion: GusA therefore has the potential to be used as a general marker in the preclinical and clinical evaluation of (novel) biological therapies as well as being useful for the detection of rare cells such as circulating tumor cells KW - Virologie KW - beta-glucuronidase KW - oncolytic virus KW - cancer KW - reporter KW - fluorescent probe Y1 - 2011 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-69163 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Heisig, Martin A1 - Frentzen, Alexa A1 - Bergmann, Birgit A1 - Gentschev, Katharina Ivaylo A1 - Hotz, Christian A1 - Schoen, Christoph A1 - Stritzker, Jochen A1 - Fensterle, Joachim A1 - Rapp, Ulf R. A1 - Goebel, Werner T1 - Specific antibody-receptor interactions trigger InlAB-independent uptake of Listeria monocytogenes into tumor cell lines N2 - Background: Specific cell targeting is an important, yet unsolved problem in bacteria-based therapeutic applications, like tumor or gene therapy. Here, we describe the construction of a novel, internalin A and B (InlAB)-deficient Listeria monocytogenes strain (Lm-spa+), which expresses protein A of Staphylococcus aureus (SPA) and anchors SPA in the correct orientation on the bacterial cell surface. Results: This listerial strain efficiently binds antibodies allowing specific interaction of the bacterium with the target recognized by the antibody. Binding of Trastuzumab (Herceptin®) or Cetuximab (Erbitux®) to Lm-spa+, two clinically approved monoclonal antibodies directed against HER2/neu and EGFR/HER1, respectively, triggers InlABindependent internalization into non-phagocytic cancer cell lines overexpressing the respective receptors. Internalization, subsequent escape into the host cell cytosol and intracellular replication of these bacteria are as efficient as of the corresponding InlAB-positive, SPA-negative parental strain. This specific antibody/receptormediated internalization of Lm-spa+ is shown in the murine 4T1 tumor cell line, the isogenic 4T1-HER2 cell line as well as the human cancer cell lines SK-BR-3 and SK-OV-3. Importantly, this targeting approach is applicable in a xenograft mouse tumor model after crosslinking the antibody to SPA on the listerial cell surface. Conclusions: Binding of receptor-specific antibodies to SPA-expressing L. monocytogenes may represent a promising approach to target L. monocytogenes to host cells expressing specific receptors triggering internalization. KW - Listeria monocytogenes Y1 - 2011 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-68705 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gentschev, Ivaylo A1 - Müller, Meike A1 - Adelfinger, Marion A1 - Weibel, Stephanie A1 - Grummt, Friedrich A1 - Zimmermann, Martina A1 - Bitzer, Michael A1 - Heisig, Martin A1 - Zhang, Qian A1 - Yu, Yong A. A1 - Chen, Nanhai G. A1 - Stritzker, Jochen A1 - Lauer, Ulrich M. A1 - Szalay, Aladar A. T1 - Efficient Colonization and Therapy of Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) Using the Oncolytic Vaccinia Virus Strain GLV-1h68 JF - PLOS ONE N2 - Virotherapy using oncolytic vaccinia virus strains is one of the most promising new strategies for cancer therapy. In this study, we analyzed for the first time the therapeutic efficacy of the oncolytic vaccinia virus GLV-1h68 in two human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines HuH7 and PLC/PRF/5 (PLC) in cell culture and in tumor xenograft models. By viral proliferation assays and cell survival tests, we demonstrated that GLV-1h68 efficiently colonized, replicated in, and did lyse these cancer cells in culture. Experiments with HuH7 and PLC xenografts have revealed that a single intravenous injection (i.v.) of mice with GLV-1h68 resulted in a significant reduction of primary tumor sizes compared to uninjected controls. In addition, replication of GLV-1h68 in tumor cells led to strong inflammatory and oncolytic effects resulting in intense infiltration of MHC class II-positive cells like neutrophils, macrophages, B cells and dendritic cells and in up-regulation of 13 pro-inflammatory cytokines. Furthermore, GLV-1h68 infection of PLC tumors inhibited the formation of hemorrhagic structures which occur naturally in PLC tumors. Interestingly, we found a strongly reduced vascular density in infected PLC tumors only, but not in the non-hemorrhagic HuH7 tumor model. These data demonstrate that the GLV-1h68 vaccinia virus may have an enormous potential for treatment of human hepatocellular carcinoma in man. KW - Breast-tumors KW - Nude-mice KW - In-vivo KW - Cancer KW - Inhibitor KW - Tissue KW - Agent KW - COX-2 Y1 - 2011 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-135319 VL - 6 IS - 7 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sturm, Julia B. A1 - Hess, Michael A1 - Weibel, Stephanie A1 - Chen, Nanhei G. A1 - Yu, Yong A. A1 - Zhang, Quian A1 - Donat, Ulrike A1 - Reiss, Cora A1 - Gambaryan, Stepan A1 - Krohne, Georg A1 - Stritzker, Jochen A1 - Szalay, Aladar A. T1 - Functional hyper-IL-6 from vaccinia virus-colonized tumors triggers platelet formation and helps to alleviate toxicity of mitomycin C enhanced virus therapy N2 - Background: Combination of oncolytic vaccinia virus therapy with conventional chemotherapy has shown promise for tumor therapy. However, side effects of chemotherapy including thrombocytopenia, still remain problematic. Methods: Here, we describe a novel approach to optimize combination therapy of oncolytic virus and chemotherapy utilizing virus-encoding hyper-IL-6, GLV-1h90, to reduce chemotherapy-associated side effects. Results: We showed that the hyper-IL-6 cytokine was successfully produced by GLV-1h90 and was functional both in cell culture as well as in tumor-bearing animals, in which the cytokine-producing vaccinia virus strain was well tolerated. When combined with the chemotherapeutic mitomycin C, the anti-tumor effect of the oncolytic virotherapy was significantly enhanced. Moreover, hyper-IL-6 expression greatly reduced the time interval during which the mice suffered from chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia. Conclusion: Therefore, future clinical application would benefit from careful investigation of additional cytokine treatment to reduce chemotherapy-induced side effects. KW - Biologie KW - vaccinia virus KW - cancer KW - cytokine KW - hyper-IL-6 KW - oncolysis KW - chemotherapy Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-75224 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gentschev, Ivaylo A1 - Adelfinger, Marion A1 - Josupeit, Rafael A1 - Rudolph, Stephan A1 - Ehrig, Klaas A1 - Donat, Ulrike A1 - Weibel, Stephanie A1 - Chen, Nanhai G. A1 - Yu, Yong A. A1 - Zhang, Qian A1 - Heisig, Martin A1 - Thamm, Douglas A1 - Stritzker, Jochen A1 - MacNeill, Amy A1 - Szalay, Aladar A. T1 - Preclinical Evaluation of Oncolytic Vaccinia Virus for Therapy of Canine Soft Tissue Sarcoma JF - PLoS One N2 - Virotherapy using oncolytic vaccinia virus (VACV) strains is one promising new strategy for canine cancer therapy. In this study we describe the establishment of an in vivo model of canine soft tissue sarcoma (CSTS) using the new isolated cell line STSA-1 and the analysis of the virus-mediated oncolytic and immunological effects of two different Lister VACV LIVP1.1.1 and GLV-1h68 strains against CSTS. Cell culture data demonstrated that both tested VACV strains efficiently infected and destroyed cells of the canine soft tissue sarcoma line STSA-1. In addition, in our new canine sarcoma tumor xenograft mouse model, systemic administration of LIVP1.1.1 or GLV-1h68 viruses led to significant inhibition of tumor growth compared to control mice. Furthermore, LIVP1.1.1 mediated therapy resulted in almost complete tumor regression and resulted in long-term survival of sarcoma-bearing mice. The replication of the tested VACV strains in tumor tissues led to strong oncolytic effects accompanied by an intense intratumoral infiltration of host immune cells, mainly neutrophils. These findings suggest that the direct viral oncolysis of tumor cells and the virus-dependent activation of tumor-associated host immune cells could be crucial parts of anti-tumor mechanism in STSA-1 xenografts. In summary, the data showed that both tested vaccinia virus strains and especially LIVP1.1.1 have great potential for effective treatment of CSTS. KW - breast-tumors KW - animal-model KW - nude-mice KW - cell-line KW - in-vitro KW - glv-1h68 KW - cancer KW - virotherapy KW - dogs KW - neutrophils Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-129998 VL - 7 IS - 5 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ehrig, Klaas A1 - Kilinc, Mehmet O. A1 - Chen, Nanhai G. A1 - Stritzker, Jochen A1 - Buckel, Lisa A1 - Zhang, Qian A1 - Szalay, Aladar A. T1 - Growth inhibition of different human colorectal cancer xenografts after a single intravenous injection of oncolytic vaccinia virus GLV-1h68 JF - Journal of Translational Medicine N2 - Background: Despite availability of efficient treatment regimens for early stage colorectal cancer, treatment regimens for late stage colorectal cancer are generally not effective and thus need improvement. Oncolytic virotherapy using replication-competent vaccinia virus (VACV) strains is a promising new strategy for therapy of a variety of human cancers. Methods: Oncolytic efficacy of replication-competent vaccinia virus GLV-1h68 was analyzed in both, cell cultures and subcutaneous xenograft tumor models. Results: In this study we demonstrated for the first time that the replication-competent recombinant VACV GLV-1h68 efficiently infected, replicated in, and subsequently lysed various human colorectal cancer lines (Colo 205, HCT-15, HCT-116, HT-29, and SW-620) derived from patients at all four stages of disease. Additionally, in tumor xenograft models in athymic nude mice, a single injection of intravenously administered GLV-1h68 significantly inhibited tumor growth of two different human colorectal cell line tumors (Duke’s type A-stage HCT-116 and Duke’s type C-stage SW-620), significantly improving survival compared to untreated mice. Expression of the viral marker gene ruc-gfp allowed for real-time analysis of the virus infection in cell cultures and in mice. GLV-1h68 treatment was well-tolerated in all animals and viral replication was confined to the tumor. GLV-1h68 treatment elicited a significant up-regulation of murine immune-related antigens like IFN-γ, IP-10, MCP-1, MCP-3, MCP-5, RANTES and TNF-γ and a greater infiltration of macrophages and NK cells in tumors as compared to untreated controls. Conclusion: The anti-tumor activity observed against colorectal cancer cells in these studies was a result of direct viral oncolysis by GLV-1h68 and inflammation-mediated innate immune responses. The therapeutic effects occurred in tumors regardless of the stage of disease from which the cells were derived. Thus, the recombinant vaccinia virus GLV-1h68 has the potential to treat colorectal cancers independently of the stage of progression. KW - oncolytic virotherapy KW - colorectal KW - vaccinia virus KW - cancer KW - metastasis Y1 - 2013 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-129619 VL - 11 IS - 79 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Donat, Ulrike A1 - Rother, Juliane A1 - Schäfer, Simon A1 - Hess, Michael A1 - Härtl, Barbara A1 - Kober, Christina A1 - Langbein-Laugwitz, Johanna A1 - Stritzker, Jochen A1 - Chen, Nanhai G. A1 - Aguilar, Richard J. A1 - Weibel, Stephanie A1 - Szalay, Alandar A. T1 - Characterization of Metastasis Formation and Virotherapy in the Human C33A Cervical Cancer Model JF - PLoS ONE N2 - More than 90% of cancer mortalities are due to cancer that has metastasized. Therefore, it is crucial to intensify research on metastasis formation and therapy. Here, we describe for the first time the metastasizing ability of the human cervical cancer cell line C33A in athymic nude mice after subcutaneous implantation of tumor cells. In this model, we demonstrated a steady progression of lumbar and renal lymph node metastases during tumor development. Besides predominantly occurring lymphatic metastases, we visualized the formation of hematogenous metastases utilizing red fluorescent protein (RFP) expressing C33A-RFP cells. RFP positive cancer cells were found migrating in blood vessels and forming micrometastases in lungs of tumor-bearing mice. Next, we set out to analyze the influence of oncolytic virotherapy in the C33A-RFP model and demonstrated an efficient virus-mediated reduction of tumor size and metastatic burden. These results suggest the C33A-RFP cervical cancer model as a new platform to analyze cancer metastases as well as to test novel treatment options to combat metastases. KW - metastasis KW - renal cancer KW - oncolytic viruses KW - lymph nodes KW - kidneys KW - lung and intrathoracic tumors KW - secondary lung tumors KW - cancer treatment Y1 - 2014 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-119674 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 9 IS - 6 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kirscher, Lorenz A1 - Deán-Ben, Xosé Luis A1 - Scadeng, Miriam A1 - Zaremba, Angelika A1 - Zhang, Qian A1 - Kober, Christina A1 - Fehm, Thomas Felix A1 - Razansky, Daniel A1 - Ntziachristos, Vasilis A1 - Stritzker, Jochen A1 - Szalay, Aladar A. T1 - Doxycycline Inducible Melanogenic Vaccinia Virus as Theranostic Anti-Cancer Agent JF - Theranostics N2 - We reported earlier the diagnostic potential of a melanogenic vaccinia virus based system in magnetic resonance (MRI) and optoacoustic deep tissue imaging (MSOT). Since melanin overproduction lead to attenuated virus replication, we constructed a novel recombinant vaccinia virus strain (rVACV), GLV-1h462, which expressed the key enzyme of melanogenesis (tyrosinase) under the control of an inducible promoter-system. In this study melanin production was detected after exogenous addition of doxycycline in two different tumor xenograft mouse models. Furthermore, it was confirmed that this novel vaccinia virus strain still facilitated signal enhancement as detected by MRI and optoacoustic tomography. At the same time we demonstrated an enhanced oncolytic potential compared to the constitutively melanin synthesizing rVACV system. KW - reporter gene KW - oncolysis KW - molecular imaging KW - virotherapy Y1 - 2015 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-124987 VL - 5 IS - 10 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tsoneva, Desislava A1 - Stritzker, Jochen A1 - Bedenk, Kristina A1 - Zhang, Qian A1 - Cappello, Joseph A1 - Fischer, Utz A1 - Szalay, Aladar A. T1 - Drug-encoded Biomarkers for Monitoring Biological Therapies JF - PLoS One N2 - Blood tests are necessary, easy-to-perform and low-cost alternatives for monitoring of oncolytic virotherapy and other biological therapies in translational research. Here we assessed three candidate proteins with the potential to be used as biomarkers in biological fluids: two glucuronidases from E. coli (GusA) and Staphylococcus sp. RLH1 (GusPlus), and the luciferase from Gaussia princeps (GLuc). The three genes encoding these proteins were inserted individually into vaccinia virus GLV-1h68 genome under the control of an identical promoter. The three resulting recombinant viruses were used to infect tumor cells in cultures and human tumor xenografts in nude mice. In contrast to the actively secreted GLuc, the cytoplasmic glucuronidases GusA and GusPlus were released into the supernatants only as a result of virus-mediated oncolysis. GusPlus resulted in the most sensitive detection of enzyme activity under controlled assay conditions in samples containing as little as 1 pg/ml of GusPlus, followed by GusA (25 pg/ml) and GLuc (≥375 pg/ml). Unexpectedly, even though GusA had a lower specific activity compared to GusPlus, the substrate conversion in the serum of tumor-bearing mice injected with the GusA-encoding virus strains was substantially higher than that of GusPlus. This was attributed to a 3.2 fold and 16.2 fold longer half-life of GusA in the blood stream compared to GusPlus and GLuc respectively, thus a more sensitive monitor of virus replication than the other two enzymes. Due to the good correlation between enzymatic activity of expressed marker gene and virus titer, we conclude that the amount of the biomarker protein in the body fluid semiquantitatively represents the amount of virus in the infected tumors which was confirmed by low light imaging. We found GusA to be the most reliable biomarker for monitoring oncolytic virotherapy among the three tested markers. KW - mouse models KW - vaccinia virus KW - luciferase KW - biomarkers KW - cytolysis KW - viral replication KW - cell cultures KW - blood Y1 - 2015 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-125265 VL - 10 IS - 9 ER -