Yanxin Liu

Overexpression of Soluble TRAIL Induces Apoptosis in Human Lung Adenocarcinoma and Inhibits Growth of Tumor Xenografts in Nude Mice

Recombinant adeno-associated virus 2/5 (rAAV2/5), a hybrid rAAV-2 with AAV-5 capsid, seems to be a very efficient delivery vector for the transduction of the lung adenocarcinoma cell line A549. Infection of the A549 cell line with a rAAV2/5 vector encoding the extracellular domain of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL, amino acids 114-281) resulted in secretion of soluble TRAIL (sTRAIL) and induction of apoptosis in these cells. rAAV2/5-sTRAIL mediated delivery and stable expression of sTRAIL resulted in the presence of the trimeric form of sTRAIL in sera of nude mice that were implanted with s.c. or orthotopic A549 tumors. The rAAV2/5-sTRAIL transduction of the tumors resulted in a statistically significant reduction in tumor growth and prolonged survival of the tumor-bearing animals. Primary cell culture, histologic examination of the tumors, and serum analyses showed the absence of detectable TRAIL-induced toxicity in normal tissues including the liver. The successful inhibition of lung cancer growth and the absence of detectable toxicity suggest a putative role for rAAV2/5-sTRAIL(114-281) in the therapy of lung cancer.

A Novel Anti-human DR5 Monoclonal Antibody with Tumoricidal Activity Induces Caspase-dependent and Caspase-independent Cell Death *

Like anti-Fas monoclonal antibodies, some monoclonal antibodies against tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) receptors have tumoricidal activity too. In this article we report a novel mouse anti-human DR5 monoclonal antibody, AD5–10, that induces apoptosis of various tumor cell lines in the absence of second cross-linking in vitro and showed strong tumoricidal activity in vivo. AD5–10 does not compete with TRAIL for binding to DR5 and synergizes with TRAIL to induce apoptosis of tumor cells. AD5–10 induces both caspase-dependent and caspase-independent cell death in Jurkat cells, whereas TRAIL induces only caspase-dependent cell death. We show for the first time that DR5 can mediate caspase-independent cell death, and DR5 can mediate distinct cell signals when interacting with different extracellular proteins. Studies on AD5–10 help us to understand more on the functions of DR5 and may provide new ideas for cancer immunotherapy.

Recombinant adeno‐associated virus‐mediated TRAIL gene therapy suppresses liver metastatic tumors

To evaluate the tumoricidal activity of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐related apoptosis‐inducing ligand (TRAIL) on disseminated liver metastatic tumors, we constructed a recombinant adeno‐associated virus (rAAV) expressing the extracellular domain (95–281aa) of human TRAIL (TRAIL95–281, and the recombinant virus was designated as rAAV‐TRAIL) using the 3‐plasmid, helper‐virus‐free, packaging system. Transduction of mouse lymphoma EL‐4 cells and Jurkat T cells lead to the expression of TRAIL95–281 protein in both virus‐transduced cells and the culture media, along with apoptosis of these cells in vitro. The therapeutic potential of rAAV‐TRAIL was then evaluated in an orthotopic transplanted mouse model mimicking liver cancer metastasis, which was established by injection of EL‐4 cells into the liver of C57BL/6 mice via the hepatic portal veins. Subsequent intraportal vein injection of rAAV‐TRAIL, not the control virus, into the liver of these mice resulted in significant suppression of tumor growth and prolonged survival, while normal hepatocyte toxicity is undetectable. Histological and biochemical analysis in tumor tissue and serum confirmed that TRAIL95–281 was stably expressed in relatively high level in hepatocytes and was secreted into the serum in active trimeric form. Futhermore, the mechanism for rAAV‐TRAIL to inhibit tumor growth was by inducing apoptosis of the tumor cells metastasizing to the livers. These results strongly suggest that the rAAV‐TRAIL‐mediated gene delivery could be a promising approach for the treatment of liver metastasis cancer.

Therapeutic expression of an anti-death receptor 5 single-chain fixed-variable region prevents tumor growth in mice

The clinical use of the single-chain fixed-variable (scFv) fragments of recombinant monoclonal antibodies as credible alternatives for classic therapeutic antibodies has two limitations: rapid blood clearance and inefficient local expression of functional molecules. In attempt to address these issues, we have developed a novel gene therapy protocol in which the anti-death receptor 5 (DR5) scFv fragments were either in vitro expressed in several tumor cell lines, or in vivo expressed in mice, using recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV)-mediated gene transfer. Viral transduction using the rAAV-S3C construct, which encodes a scFv molecule (S3C scFv) specific to DR5, led to stable expression in tumor cell lines and showed apoptosis-inducing activity in vitro, which could be inhibited by recombinant DR5 but not by DR4. A single i.m. injection of rAAV-S3C virus in nude mice resulted in stable expression of DR5-binding S3C scFv proteins in mouse sera for at least 240 days. Moreover, the expression of S3C scFv was associated with significant suppression of tumor growth and the increase of tumor cell apoptosis in previously established s.c. human lung LTEP-sml and liver Hep3B tumor xenografts.

Targeting a Novel N-terminal Epitope of Death Receptor 5 Triggers Tumor Cell Death

Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand receptors death receptor (DR) 4 and DR5 are potential targets for antibody-based cancer therapy. Activation of the proapoptotic DR5 in various cancer cells triggers the extrinsic and/or intrinsic pathway of apoptosis. It has been shown that there are several functional domains in the DR5 extracellular domain. The cysteine-rich domains of DR5 have a conservative role in tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand-DR5-mediated apoptosis, and the pre-ligand assembly domain within the N1-cap contributes to the ligand-independent formation of receptor complexes. However, the role of the N-terminal region (NTR) preceding the N1-cap of DR5 remains unclear. In this study, we demonstrate that NTR could mediate DR5 activation that transmits an apoptotic signal when bound to a specific agonistic monoclonal antibody. A novel epitope in the NTR of DR5 was identified by peptide array. Antibodies against the antigenic determinant showed high affinities for DR5 and triggered caspase activation in a time-dependent manner, suggesting the NTR of DR5 might function as a potential death-inducing region. Moreover, permutation analysis showed that Leu6 was pivotal for the interaction of DR5 and the agonistic antibody. Synthetic wild-type epitopes eliminated the cytotoxicity of all three agonistic monoclonal antibodies, AD5-10, Adie-1, and Adie-2. These results indicate that the NTR of DR5 could be a potential target site for the development of new strategies for cancer immunotherapy. Also, our findings expand the current knowledge about DR5 extracellular functional domains and provide insights into the mechanism of DR5-mediated cell death.