[HTML][HTML] Myxoma Virus Infection Promotes NK Lysis of Malignant Gliomas In Vitro and In Vivo

H Ogbomo, FJ Zemp, X Lun, J Zhang, D Stack… - PloS one, 2013 - journals.plos.org
H Ogbomo, FJ Zemp, X Lun, J Zhang, D Stack, MM Rahman, G Mcfadden, CH Mody
PloS one, 2013journals.plos.org
Myxoma virus (MYXV) is a well-established oncolytic agent against different types of tumors.
MYXV is also known for its immunomodulatory properties in down-regulating major
histocompatibility complex (MHC) I surface expression (via the M153R gene product, a viral
E3-ubiquitin ligase) and suppressing T cell killing of infected target cells. MHC I down-
regulation, however, favors NK cell activation. Brain tumors including gliomas are
characterized by high MHC I expression with impaired NK activity. We thus hypothesized …
Myxoma virus (MYXV) is a well-established oncolytic agent against different types of tumors. MYXV is also known for its immunomodulatory properties in down-regulating major histocompatibility complex (MHC) I surface expression (via the M153R gene product, a viral E3-ubiquitin ligase) and suppressing T cell killing of infected target cells. MHC I down-regulation, however, favors NK cell activation. Brain tumors including gliomas are characterized by high MHC I expression with impaired NK activity. We thus hypothesized that MYXV infection of glioma cells will promote NK cell-mediated recognition and killing of gliomas. We infected human gliomas with MYXV and evaluated their susceptibility to NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity. MYXV enhanced NK cell-mediated killing of glioma cells (U87 cells, MYXV vs. Mock: 51.73% vs. 28.63%, P = .0001, t test; U251 cells, MYXV vs. Mock: 40.4% vs. 20.03%, P .0007, t test). Using MYXV M153R targeted knockout (designated vMyx-M153KO) to infect gliomas, we demonstrate that M153R was responsible for reduced expression of MHC I on gliomas and enhanced NK cell-mediated antiglioma activity (U87 cells, MYXV vs. vMyx-M153KO: 51.73% vs. 25.17%, P = .0002, t test; U251 cells, MYXV vs. vMyx-M153KO: 40.4% vs. 19.27, P = .0013, t test). Consequently, NK cell-mediated lysis of established human glioma tumors in CB-17 SCID mice was accelerated with improved mouse survival (log-rank P = .0072). These results demonstrate the potential for combining MYXV with NK cells to effectively kill malignant gliomas.
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