Abstract 4772: Evaluation of immune response following ultrasound targeted gene therapy in a murine model of prostate cancer
Authors: Carlo Flavia De , Varney Elliot T. , Claudio Pier Paolo , Howard Candace M. 
Published: August 2019

Human Adenoviruses (hAd) have been broadly used as gene delivery tool in preclinical and clinical studies of cancer gene therapy. The main challenges associated with systemic delivery of hAds are their high immunogenicity and host-specificity. Adenoviruses can elicit strong innate and acquired immune responses that reduce therapeutic gene transfer and expression in malignant sites. Murine cells generally lack some of the receptors necessary for hAd adhesion and internalization making them not permissive to infection and replication and limiting translational studies using murine models. We have developed a gene transfer method, which uses lipid-encapsulated perfluorocarbon microbubbles (MBs) and ultrasound (US) to protect the hAds from the immune system and to deliver them to a targeted tissue, bypassing the necessity for specific receptors. The expression of the Ad-receptors (CAR, Integrins αvβ3 and αvβ5), transduction efficiency of Ad-GFP, and GFP transgene expression were measured in vitro in murine (TRAMP-C2) and human (DU145) prostate cancer cells lines by flow cytometry and immunofluorescence. The activation of the innate and acquired immune system following the injection of Ad-GFP/MBs complexes was evaluated in vivo in C57BL/6 mice healthy or bearing a TRAMP-C2 syngeneic tumor graft. ELISA was used to quantify the inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-6 and measure Neutralizing Antibodies. ELISpot assay was performed to measure the frequency of DBP-specific CD8+ T cells secreting INF-γ. We showed in vitro that murine TRAMP-C2 cells display an expression pattern of Ad-receptors comparable to human DU145 prostate cancer cells. We also demonstrated that both murine and human cells showed a dose dependent increase in the percentage of cells transduced by Ad-GFP at 24 hours. Additionally, we showed that TRAMP-C2 cells efficiently express the GFP transgene at 48 and 72 hours post transduction. To assess in vivo if our gene transfer method could effectively protect the Ads form both the innate and adaptive immunity, we injected C57BL/6 mice with the hAds-GFP/MBs complexes +/-US. Notably we did not observe activation of either innate (secretion of TNF- and IL-6 cytokines) or acquired immunity (neutralizing antibodies and presence of adenovirus-specific CD8+ T cells producing INF-γ). Our data provides evidence that the TRAMP-C2 syngeneic model of prostate cancer is a suitable system to study in immunocompetent mice the capability of the MBs/US to protect the Adenoviruses from the immune system while delivering them to a targeted site bypassing the requirement of specific receptors.

Citation Format: Flavia De Carlo, Elliot T. Varney, Pier Paolo Claudio, Candace M. Howard. Evaluation of immune response following ultrasound targeted gene therapy in a murine model of prostate cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4772.