Abstract 1802: Personalization of oncolytic virus therapy: Heterogenous anti-tumor responses in preclinical prostate and bladder cancer models
Authors: Janssen Thijs J. , van der Horst Geertje , van der Merbel Arjanneke F. , van der Mark Maaike , Lamfers Martine L. , Hoogen Bernadette G. van den , van der Burg Sjoerd S. , Mustafa Dana A. , Mehra Niven , Aalders Tilly , van Montfoort Nadine , Schalken Jack , Hoeben Rob C. , van der Pluijm Gabri 
Published: April 2023

Clinical studies revealed that single-agent immunotherapies yield limited efficacy in the management of prostate and bladder cancer (PCa, BCa). PCa and BCa often induce immunosuppressive and immune evasion mechanisms that restrict anti-tumor responses. Oncolytic viruses (OVs) offer promising and safe therapeutic options in the treatment of cancer as OVs target and or preferentially replicate in tumor cells, potentially evoking systemic anti-tumor immune responses. Combination of immunotherapy with OVs may, therefore, unleash the full potential of immunotherapy for these cancers. To achieve beneficial anti-tumor responses a more personalized OV therapy approach seems crucial. Strikingly, only few studies describe head-to-head comparison of the effects of different OVs.

Together with our partners in the oncolytic viro-immunotherapy (OVIT) consortium we are developing and evaluating multiple OVs for their abilities to induce oncolysis and subsequent immunomodulation. Furthermore, we are developing tools to predict oncolytic virus effectiveness and design strategies to personalize oncolytic virus therapy. The OVs that were generated by our consortium encompass the spontaneous Orthoreovirus mutant (jin-3), a non-human primate Adenovirus (AdV-lumc007dRbD), and a Newcastle Disease Virus variant (NDV-F0).In this study we determined the anti-tumor and immunomodulatory effects of selected OVs in multiple ‘near-patient and patient-derived human PCa and BCa models; 1) tumor cell line cultures, 2) cocultures of tumor cell lines and monocyte-derived dendritic cells (mo-DCs), and 3) ex-vivo cultured tumor tissue slices and explants from patient material or patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models. The selected OVs infected a panel of PCa and BCa cell lines and displayed heterogenous effects on tumor cell viability and expression of immunogenic cell death markers (HSP90, Calreticulin, and HMGB1). For instance, the jin-3 virus showed enhanced tumor tropism in most PCa cells, while AdV-lumc007dRbD was more efficient in BCa cells. Virus infection of tumor cells resulted in maturation and activation of moDCs. Furthermore, OVs were able to infect and replicate in ex-vivo cultured tumor tissue slices and viability of ex-vivo tumor tissue explants was reduced following viral inoculation. Transcriptomic analysis of infected patient tissues revealed heterogenous responses to the tested OVs.Taken together, we established and compared the oncolytic properties of various OVs in multiple preclinical models of PCa and BCa. The data indicate heterogeneity of response for the tested OVs in urological cancers. In order for OV therapy to reach robust clinical efficacy, better appreciation of underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms is crucial for the personalization of oncolytic viro-immunotherapy.

Citation Format: Thijs J. Janssen, Geertje van der Horst, Arjanneke F. van der Merbel, Maaike van der Mark, Martine L. Lamfers, Bernadette G. van den Hoogen, Sjoerd S. van der Burg, Dana A. Mustafa, Niven Mehra, Tilly Aalders, Nadine van Montfoort, Jack Schalken, Rob C. Hoeben, Gabri van der Pluijm. Personalization of oncolytic virus therapy: Heterogenous anti-tumor responses in preclinical prostate and bladder cancer models [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 1802.