Effect of canarypox virus (ALVAC)-mediated cytokine expression on murine prostate tumor growth.

Background: Canarypox virus, ALVAC, does not replicate in infected mammalian cells and has potential as a vector for gene therapy in the treatment of cancer.

Purpose: Recombinant viruses carrying DNA sequences encoding interleukin 2 (ALVAC-IL-2), interferon gamma (ALVAC-IFN gamma), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (ALVAC-TNF-alpha), or the co-stimulatory molecule B7-1 (ALVAC-B7-1) were investigated as agents for the treatment of a newly defined mouse prostate tumor model.

Methods: RM-1 mouse prostate cancer cells, which are syngeneic (i.e., same genetic background) to C57BL/6 mice, were used. The expression of foreign gene products in vitro in infected RM-1 cells was measured by immunoprecipitation, bioassay, or flow cytometry. The effects of foreign gene product expression on RM-1 tumor cell growth in C57BL/6 mice were measured after subcutaneous injection (in the back) of 5 x 10(5) uninfected or infected cells; measurements included determinations of time to a measurable tumor size, tumor size as a function of time, and survival. The induction of protective immunity by uninfected and infected RM-1 cells was tested by injection of lethally irradiated (70 Gy) cells and subsequent challenge with uninfected cells. The generation of cytotoxic T cells was monitored by use of a 51Cr release assay. Severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice were used to determine whether T or B lymphocytes were involved in ALVAC vector-mediated antitumor responses. Data were analyzed by use of Pearson's modification of the chi-squared test and Kaplan-Meier survival methods. Reported P values are two-sided.

Results: The level of foreign gene product expression in ALVAC-infected RM-1 cells was dependent on the multiplicity of virus infection used; a multiplicity of five viruses per infected cell was chosen for subsequent experiments. RM-1 tumor growth in C57BL/6 mice was not affected by tumor cell expression of IL-2 alone, IFN gamma alone, or B7-1 alone; however, expression of TNF-alpha alone significantly delayed tumor growth at early time points (compared with parental ALVAC-infected tumors, P = .0001 at day 21 and P = .037 at day 28). Tumor cell expression of both TNF-alpha and IL-2 completely inhibited tumor growth in 60%-100% of treated mice. No protection against subsequent tumor challenge was detected in mice previously exposed to RM-1 cells expressing both TNF-alpha and IL-2. Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte activity toward RM-1 cells was not observed in C57BL/6 mice that rejected tumors. Tumor cell expression of TNF-alpha and IL-2 also resulted in tumor growth inhibition in SCID mice.

Conclusions: RM-1 mouse prostate cancer cells are readily infected by ALVAC vectors, and foreign gene products are efficiently expressed. Inhibition of RM-1 tumor growth by tumor cell expression of TNF-alpha and IL-2 appears to involve nonspecific antitumor activity.