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Infectivity-Enhanced Adenoviruses Deliver Efficacy in Clinical Samples and Orthotopic Models of Disseminated Gastric Cancer

Authors' Affiliations: ¹ Rational Drug Design Program, University of Helsinki; Departments of ² Oncology, ³ Surgery, and ⁴ Obstetrics and Gynecology, ⁵ Transplantation and Liver Surgery Unit, Department of Surgery, and ⁶ Department of Clinical Chemistry, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland; ⁷ Division of Human Gene Therapy, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama; and ⁸ Department of Bone and Marrow Transplantation, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas

Requests for reprints: Akseli Hemminki, Rational Drug Design Program, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 63, 00014 Helsinki, Finland. Phone: 358-9-1912-5464; Fax: 358-9-1912-5465; E-mail: akseli.hemminki{at}helsinki.fi.

Purpose: Metastatic gastric cancer remains a common and devastating disease without curative treatment. Recent proof-of-concept clinical trials have validated gene therapy with adenoviruses as an effective and safe modality for the treatment of cancer. However, expression of the primary coxsackie-adenovirus receptor is variable in advanced cancers, and therefore, the use of heterologous receptors could be advantageous.

Experimental Design: Here, we used capsid-modified adenoviruses for increasing the transduction and subsequent antitumor efficacy. 5/3 chimeric viruses have a serotype 3 knob which allows binding to a receptor distinct from coxsackie-adenovirus receptor. The fiber of Ad5lucRGD is modified with an integrin-targeted motif. Polylysine motifs, pK7 and pK21, bind to heparan sulfates. Oncolytic adenoviruses replicate in and kill tumor cells selectively. Gastric cancer cell lines and fresh clinical samples from patients were infected with transductionally targeted viruses. Capsid-modified oncolytic adenoviruses were used in cell killing experiments. To test viral transduction and therapeutic efficacy in vivo, we developed orthotopic mouse models featuring i.p. disseminated human gastric cancer, which allowed the evaluation of biodistribution and antitumor efficacy in a system similar to humans.

Results: Capsid modifications benefited gene transfer efficiency and cell killing in gastric cancer cell lines and clinical samples in vitro and in vivo. Modified oncolytic adenoviruses significantly increased the survival of mice with orthotopic gastric cancer.

Conclusions: These preclinical data set the stage for the clinical evaluation of safety and efficacy in patients with disease refractory to current modalities.

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