In vivo antitumor activity by dual stromal and tumor-targeted oncolytic measles viruses.

The tumor stroma acts as a barrier that limits the efficacy of systemically administered oncolytic viruses (OV). We previously demonstrated that stromal-selective, retargeted oncolytic measles viruses (MVs) delay in vivo tumor progression. To further characterize the contribution of stromal targeting to MV's overall in vivo efficacy in an experimental cancer model, a dual targeted oncolytic measles virus (MV-CD46-muPA) able to simultaneously infect murine stromal (via murine uPAR) and human cancer (via CD46) cells was developed.

BMI1 is downregulated by the natural compound curcumin, but not by bisdemethoxycurcumin and dimethoxycurcumin.

The B-cell-specific Moloney murine leukemia virus integration site 1 (BMI1) locus encodes a 37-kD protein that is a key regulatory component of the polycomb regulatory complex 1 (PRC1). When overexpressed in various cancer types, the BMI1 protein induces cell growth and promotes tumor growth in vitro and in vivo. Curcumin, a major phytochemical in turmeric (Curcuma longa), inhibits the proliferation and survival of many types of cancer cells, both in vitro and in vivo, and has been reported to reduce BMI1 expression in breast cancer cells.