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Journal of Virology, January 2002, p. 895-904, Vol. 76, No. 2
0022-538X/01/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JVI.76.2.895-904.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Genetically Engineered Vesicular Stomatitis Virus in Gene Therapy: Application for Treatment of Malignant Disease

Marilyn Fernandez, Mercedes Porosnicu, Dubravka Markovic, and Glen N. Barber*

Department of Microbiology and Immunology and Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida 33136

Received 16 July 2001/ Accepted 20 September 2001

We report here the generation of recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) able to produce the suicide gene product thymidine kinase (TK) or cytokine interleukin 4 (IL-4). In vitro cells infected with the engineered viruses expressed remarkably high levels of biologically active TK or IL-4 and showed no defects in replication compared to the wild-type virus. Recombinant viruses retained their ability to induce potent apoptosis in a variety of cancer cells, while normal cells were evidently more resistant to infection and were completely protected by interferon. Significantly, following direct intratumoral inoculation, VSV expressing either TK or IL-4 exhibited considerably more oncolytic activity against syngeneic breast or melanoma tumors in murine models than did the wild-type virus or control recombinant viruses expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP). Complete regression of a number of tumors was achieved, and increased granulocyte-infiltrating activity with concomitant, antitumor cytotoxic T-cell responses was observed. Aside from discovering greater oncolytic activity following direct intratumoral inoculation, however, we also established that VSV expressing IL-4 or TK, but not GFP, was able to exert enhanced antitumor activity against metastatic disease. Following intravenous administration of the recombinant viruses, immunocompetent BALB/c mice inoculated with mammary adenocarcinoma exhibited prolonged survival against lethal lung metastasis. Our data demonstrate the validity of developing novel types of engineered VSV for recombinant protein production and as a gene therapy vector for the treatment of malignant and other disease.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Rm. 511, Papanicolaou Building, 1550 NW 10th Ave. [M710], University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136. Phone: (305) 243-5914. Fax: (305) 243-5885. E-mail: gbarber{at}med.miami.edu.

Journal of Virology, January 2002, p. 895-904, Vol. 76, No. 2
0022-538X/01/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JVI.76.2.895-904.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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