Polymeric cups for cavitation mediated delivery of oncolytic vaccinia virus

Journal article

Oncolytic viruses (OV) could become the most powerful and selective cancer therapies. However, the limited transport of OV into and throughout tumors following intravenous injection means their clinical administration is often restricted to direct intratumoral dosing. Application of physical stimuli, such as focussed ultrasound, offers a means of achieving enhanced mass transport. In particular, shockwaves and microstreaming resulting from the instigation of an ultrasound-induced event known as inertial cavitation can propel OV hundreds of microns. We have recently developed a polymeric cup formulation which, when delivered intravenously, provides the nuclei for instigation of sustained inertial cavitation events within tumors. Here we report that exposure of tumors to focussed ultrasound after intravenous co-injection of cups and oncolytic vaccinia virus (VV), leads to substantial and significant increases in activity. When cavitation was instigated within SKOV-3 or HepG2 xenografts, reporter gene expression from VV was enhanced 1,000-fold (p<0.0001) or 10,000-fold (p<0.001), respectively. Similar increases in the number of VV genomes recovered from tumors were also observed. In survival studies, the application of cup mediated cavitation to a VV expressing a prodrug converting enzyme provided significant (p<0.05) retardation of tumor growth. This technology could improve the clinical utility of all biological therapeutics including OV.

Authors: Myers, R; Coviello, C; Erbs, P; Foloppe, J; Rowe, C

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Journal: Molecular Therapy
• Publication date: 2016-07-04
• Acceptance date: 2016-06-21
• DOI: 10.1038/mt.2016.139
• EISSN: 1525-0024
• ISSN: 1525-0016
• Keywords: cavitation; delivery; virus; tumor penetration