Viruses 2018, 10(6), 302; https://doi.org/10.3390/v10060302
Preclinical Testing of an Oncolytic Parvovirus in Ewing Sarcoma: Protoparvovirus H-1 Induces Apoptosis and Lytic Infection In Vitro but Fails to Improve Survival In Vivo
Jeannine Lacroix 1,2,*
, Zoltán Kis 1,3
, Rafael Josupeit 1, Franziska Schlund 1, Alexandra Stroh-Dege 1, Monika Frank-Stöhr 4, Barbara Leuchs 1, Jörg R. Schlehofer 1, Jean Rommelaere 1 and Christiane Dinsart 1
, Rafael Josupeit 1, Franziska Schlund 1, Alexandra Stroh-Dege 1, Monika Frank-Stöhr 4, Barbara Leuchs 1, Jörg R. Schlehofer 1, Jean Rommelaere 1 and Christiane Dinsart 11
Division of Tumor Virology, Program Infection, Inflammation and Cancer, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Im Neuenheimer Feld 242, Heidelberg 69120, Germany
2
Present address: Department of Pediatrics, Karlsruhe Municipal Hospital, Moltkestraße 90, 76133 Karlsruhe, Germany
3
Faculty of Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK
4
Division of Viral Transformation Mechanisms, Program Infection, Inflammation and Cancer, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Im Neuenheimer Feld 242, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 2 May 2018 / Revised: 27 May 2018 / Accepted: 29 May 2018 / Published: 3 June 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Protoparvoviruses: Friends or Foes?)
Abstract
About 70% of all Ewing sarcoma (EWS) patients are diagnosed under the age of 20 years. Over the last decades little progress has been made towards finding effective treatment approaches for primarily metastasized or refractory Ewing sarcoma in young patients. Here, in the context of the search for novel therapeutic options, the potential of oncolytic protoparvovirus H-1 (H-1PV) to treat Ewing sarcoma was evaluated, its safety having been proven previously tested in adult cancer patients and its oncolytic efficacy demonstrated on osteosarcoma cell cultures. The effects of viral infection were tested in vitro on four human Ewing sarcoma cell lines. Notably evaluated were effects of the virus on the cell cycle and its replication efficiency. Within 24 h after infection, the synthesis of viral proteins was induced. Efficient H-1PV replication was confirmed in all four Ewing sarcoma cell lines. The cytotoxicity of the virus was determined on the basis of cytopathic effects, cell viability, and cell lysis. These in vitro experiments revealed efficient killing of Ewing sarcoma cells by H-1PV at a multiplicity of infection between 0.1 and 5 plaque forming units (PFU)/cell. In two of the four tested cell lines, significant induction of apoptosis by H-1PV was observed. H-1PV thus meets all the in vitro criteria for a virus to be oncolytic towards Ewing sarcoma. In the first xenograft experiments, however, although an antiproliferative effect of intratumoral H-1PV injection was observed, no significant improvement of animal survival was noted. Future projects aiming to validate parvovirotherapy for the treatment of pediatric Ewing sarcoma should focus on combinatorial treatments and will require the use of patient-derived xenografts and immunocompetent syngeneic animal models. View Full-Text
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MDPI and ACS Style
Lacroix, J.; Kis, Z.; Josupeit, R.; Schlund, F.; Stroh-Dege, A.; Frank-Stöhr, M.; Leuchs, B.; Schlehofer, J.R.; Rommelaere, J.; Dinsart, C. Preclinical Testing of an Oncolytic Parvovirus in Ewing Sarcoma: Protoparvovirus H-1 Induces Apoptosis and Lytic Infection In Vitro but Fails to Improve Survival In Vivo. Viruses 2018, 10, 302.
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