학술논문

Virally programmed extracellular vesicles sensitize cancer cells to oncolytic virus and small molecule therapy
Document Type
article
Source
Nature Communications. 13(1)
Subject
Biomedical and Clinical Sciences
Oncology and Carcinogenesis
Immunology
Orphan Drug
Biotechnology
Genetics
Cancer
Vaccine Related
Rare Diseases
Gene Therapy
5.1 Pharmaceuticals
Development of treatments and therapeutic interventions
Good Health and Well Being
Extracellular Vesicles
Humans
MicroRNAs
Neoplasms
Oncolytic Virotherapy
Oncolytic Viruses
Language
Abstract
Recent advances in cancer therapeutics clearly demonstrate the need for innovative multiplex therapies that attack the tumour on multiple fronts. Oncolytic or "cancer-killing" viruses (OVs) represent up-and-coming multi-mechanistic immunotherapeutic drugs for the treatment of cancer. In this study, we perform an in-vitro screen based on virus-encoded artificial microRNAs (amiRNAs) and find that a unique amiRNA, herein termed amiR-4, confers a replicative advantage to the VSVΔ51 OV platform. Target validation of amiR-4 reveals ARID1A, a protein involved in chromatin remodelling, as an important player in resistance to OV replication. Virus-directed targeting of ARID1A coupled with small-molecule inhibition of the methyltransferase EZH2 leads to the synthetic lethal killing of both infected and uninfected tumour cells. The bystander killing of uninfected cells is mediated by intercellular transfer of extracellular vesicles carrying amiR-4 cargo. Altogether, our findings establish that OVs can serve as replicating vehicles for amiRNA therapeutics with the potential for combination with small molecule and immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy.