Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women all over the world. Furthermore, up to one third of breast tumors develop metastases that are resistant to standard therapies. Gene therapeutic strategies have been developed in order to specifically target cancer cells either directly or through the stimulation of antitumor immunity. Areas covered: This review describes the therapeutic strategies that are currently under development to treat this disease using engineered viral vectors including: adenovirus, adeno-associated virus, lentivirus, poxvirus, reovirus, baculovirus, herpesvirus and oncolytic viruses. Advantages and disadvantages of these multiple gene therapy platforms are discussed in detail. Expert opinion: Metastatic breast cancer is a perfect candidate for gene therapy approaches due to the presence of several tumor antigens and the aberrant expression of many molecular pathways. Oncolytic vectors are able to attack tumor cells while sparing normal cells and their activity is often enhanced by the administration of chemotherapy. However, more efforts are needed in order to reduce toxicity and to achieve better transduction efficiency. Improved preclinical models and a more critical patient selection for clinical trials, along with advances in gene therapy regulations, will surely facilitate the evolution of gene therapy for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer.

No abstract

Zeta-associated protein-70 (ZAP-70), mostly assessed by flowcytometry (FC), recently emerged as reliable prognostic factor in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) at presentation. We evaluated ZAP-70 expression in 156 CLL patients by immunohistochemistry (IHC) on formalin-fixed bone marrow (BM) biopsies at diagnosis. At presentation, 117 patients (75%) were with Binet stage A, 27 (17%) stage B and 12 (8%) stage C. Median follow-up was 61 months (range 6-242). ZAP-70 was expressed in neoplastic lymphocytes of 69 patients (44%). Concordance between ZAP-70 by IHC and ZAP-70 by FC, immunoglobulin heavy chain variable genes (IGHV) mutational status and CD38 expression was found in 41/46 (89%), 41/49 (80%) and in 60/88 (68%) tested cases, respectively. ZAP-70 expression significantly correlated with advanced Binet stage (B-C), diffuse BM infiltration, increased lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and b2-microglobulin serum levels and lymphocyte doubling time o12 months. ZAP-70 positivity was significantly related to poorer time to progression (median 16 months vs 158 of ZAP-70-negative cases) (Po0.0001) and overall survival (median 106 months vs not reached) (P ¼ 0.0002); this correlation was confirmed at multivariate analysis. ZAP-70 expression correlated with poorer outcome also when evaluated only in the 117 stage A patients. In conclusion, immunohistological detection of ZAP-70 on formalin-fixed BM biopsies at diagnosis appears a useful methodological approach to identify patients with poor prognosis in CLL.

Birnaviruses are unconventional members of the double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) viruses group that are characterized by the lack of a transcriptionally active inner core. Instead, the birnaviral particles organize their genome in ribonucleoprotein complexes (RNPs) composed by dsRNA segments, the dsRNA-binding VP3 protein, and the viral encoded RNA-dependent RNA-polymerase (RdRp). This and other structural features suggests that birnaviruses may follow a completely different replication program from that followed by members of the family, supporting the hypothesis that birnaviruses are the evolutionary link between single-stranded positive RNA (+ssRNA) and dsRNA viruses. Here, we demonstrated that the (IBDV), a prototypical member of the family, hijacks endosomal membranes of infected cells through the interaction of viral protein, VP3, with the phospholipids on the cytosolic leaflet of these compartments for replication. Employing a mutagenesis approach, we demonstrated that VP3 domain PATCH 2 (P2) mediates the association of VP3 with the endosomal membranes. To determine the role of VP3 P2 in the context of virus replication cycle, we used avian cells stably overexpressing VP3 P2 for IBDV infection. Importantly, the intra- and extra-cellular virus yields, as well as the intracellular levels of VP2 viral capsid protein, significantly diminished in VP3 P2 stably overexpressing cells. Altogether, our results indicate that the association of VP3 with endosomes has a relevant role in IBDV replication cycle. This report provides direct experimental evidence for membranous compartments such as endosomes being required by a dsRNA virus for its replication. The results also support the previously proposed role of birnaviruses as an evolutionary link between +ssRNA and dsRNA viruses. Infectious Bursal Disease (IBD, also called Gumboro disease) is an acute, highly contagious immunosuppressive disease that affects young chickens and spreads worldwide. The etiological agent of IBD is the (IBDV). This virus destroys the central immune organ (bursa of Fabricius), resulting in immunosuppression and reduced responses of chickens to vaccines, which increases their susceptibility to other pathogens.IBDV is a member of family, which comprises unconventional members of dsRNA viruses, whose replication strategy has been scarcely studied. In this report we show that IBDV hijacks the endosomes of the infected cells for establishing viral replication complexes via the association of the ribonucleoprotein complex component VP3,with the phospholipids in the cytosolic leaflet of endosomal membranes. We show that this interaction is mediated by VP3 PATCH2 domain and demonstrated its relevant role in the context of viral infection.