No abstract

T cells expressing chimeric antigen receptors (CART) have shown significant promise in clinical trials to treat hematologic malignancies, but their efficacy in solid tumors has been limited. Oncolytic viruses have the potential to act in synergy with immunotherapies due to their immunogenic oncolytic properties and the opportunity of incorporating therapeutic transgenes in their genomes. Here, we hypothesized that an oncolytic adenovirus armed with an EGFR-targeting, bispecific T-cell engager (OAdBiTE) would improve the outcome of CART-cell therapy in solid tumors. We report that CART cells targeting the folate receptor alpha (FR-a) successfully infiltrated preestablished xenograft tumors but failed to induce complete responses, presumably due to the presence of antigen-negative cancer cells. We demonstrated that OAd-BiTE-mediated oncolysis significantly improved CART-cell activation and proliferation, while increasing cytokine production and cytotoxicity, and showed an in vitro favorable safety profile compared with EGFR-targeting CARTs. BiTEs secreted from infected cells redirected CART cells toward EGFR in the absence of FR-a, thereby addressing tumor heterogeneity. BiTE secretion also redirected CAR-negative, nonspecific T cells found in CART-cell preparations toward tumor cells. The combinatorial approach improved antitumor efficacy and prolonged survival in mouse models of cancer when compared with the monotherapies, and this was the result of an increased BiTEmediated T-cell activation in tumors. Overall, these results demonstrated that the combination of a BiTE-expressing oncolytic virus with adoptive CART-cell therapy overcomes key limitations of CART cells and BiTEs as monotherapies in solid tumors and encourage its further evaluation in human trials.

Attempts to develop a vaccine to prevent genital herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2) disease have been only marginally successful, suggesting that novel strategies are needed. Immunization with HSV-2 glycoprotein C (gC-2) and gD-2 was evaluated in mice and guinea pigs to determine whether adding gC-2 to a gD-2 subunit vaccine would improve protection by producing antibodies that block gC-2 immune evasion from complement. Antibodies produced by gC-2 immunization blocked the interaction between gC-2 and complement C3b, and passive transfer of gC-2 antibody protected complement-intact mice but not C3 knockout mice against HSV-2 challenge, indicating that gC-2 antibody is effective, at least in part, because it prevents HSV-2 evasion from complement. Immunization with gC-2 also produced neutralizing antibodies that were active in the absence of complement; however, the neutralizing titers were higher when complement was present, with the highest titers in animals immunized with both antigens. Animals immunized with the gC-2-plus-gD-2 combination had robust CD4؉ T-cell responses to each immunogen. Multiple disease parameters were evaluated in mice and guinea pigs immunized with gC-2 alone, gD-2 alone, or both antigens. In general, gD-2 outperformed gC-2; however, the gC-2-plus-gD-2 combination outperformed gD-2 alone, particularly in protecting dorsal root ganglia in mice and reducing recurrent vaginal shedding of HSV-2 DNA in guinea pigs. Therefore, the gC-2 subunit antigen enhances a gD-2 subunit vaccine by stimulating a CD4 ؉ T-cell response, by producing neutralizing antibodies that are effective in the absence and presence of complement, and by blocking immune evasion domains that inhibit complement activation.

No abstract

A genital herpes vaccine is urgently needed to prevent pain and suffering, reduce the incidence of neonatal herpes, and decrease the risk of HIV acquisition and transmission that accompanies genital infection. We evaluated a trivalent HSV-2 subunit antigen vaccine administered with CpG and alum in rhesus macaques and guinea pigs. The vaccine contains glycoproteins C, D and E (gC2, gD2, gE2) to block virus entry by gD2 and immune evasion by gC2 and gE2. In rhesus macaques, the trivalent vaccine induced plasma and mucosa neutralizing antibodies, antibodies that block gC2 and gE2 immune evasion activities, and stimulated CD4 T cell responses. After intravaginal challenge, a self-limited vaginal infection of brief duration was detected by histopathology and immunohistochemistry in naïve, but not in trivalent immunized macaques. Vaccine efficacy was evaluated in female guinea pigs. Animals were mock immunized, or immunized with gD2, the trivalent vaccine or the trivalent vaccine followed by a booster dose of gD2 (trivalent + gD2). The trivalent and trivalent + gD2 groups were 97% and 99% efficacious, respectively in preventing genital lesions and both outperformed gD2 alone. As a marker of transmission risk, vaginal swabs were evaluated daily for HSV-2 DNA and replication competent virus between five and seven weeks after challenge. HSV-2 DNA shedding was reduced in all groups compared with mock. Shedding of replication competent virus occurred on fewer days in the trivalent than gD2 immunized animals while the trivalent + gD2 group had no shedding of replication competent virus. Overall, the trivalent group had genital lesions on < 1% days and shedding of replication competent virus on 0.2% days. The vaccine has outstanding potential for prevention of genital herpes in humans.