Background: Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most frequent primary malignant tumor of bone in children and adolescents. Although immune checkpoint inhibitor, anti-programmed death protein 1 (PD-1) antibody, has dramatically improved the clinical outcome in some cancer patients, OS patients are less sensitive to PD-1 blockade due to poor immune responses. Recently, oncolytic virotherapy has been shown to stimulate the immune system through induction of immunogenic cell death (ICD). We recently developed a RGD fiber-modified telomerase-specific oncolytic adenovirus OBP-502, which can enter into tumor cells by binding to cell surface integrin and induce oncolytic cell death in a telomerase-dependent manner. In this study, we assessed the in vitro and in vivo antitumor efficacy of combination therapy with PD-1 blockade and OBP-502 in OS cells.Methods: We used 2 murine OS cell lines, K7M2 and NHOS. The expression of PD-L1, coxsackie and adenovirus receptor (CAR), and integrin on the cell surface was analyzed by flow cytometric analysis. We analyzed the in vitro antitumor effect of OBP-502 using XTT assay and western blot analysis. Virus-induced ICD was assessed by analyzing the level of extracellular ATP and high-mobility group box protein B1 (HMGB1). To evaluate the therapeutic potential of oncolytic immunotherapy, we investigated the in vivo antitumor effect of combination therapy with anti-PD-1 antibody and OBP-502 using a subcutaneous K7M2 xenograft tumor model. Moreover, the number of tumor-infiltrating CD8+, CD4+ and Foxp3+ T cells was analyzed by immunohistochemistry.Results: Flow cytometric analysis demonstrated that K7M2 and NHOS cells had the expression of PD-L1 and integrin, but not CAR. XTT assay showed that OBP-502 efficiently suppressed the viability of K7M2 and NHOS cells in a dose-dependent manner. Western blot analysis revealed that OBP-502 induced the apoptosis-related cell death in K7M2 and NHOS cells. ELISA assay demonstrated that OBP-502 significantly increased the level of extracellular ATP and HMGB1 in K7M2 and NHOS cells. In vivo experiment using a subcutaneous K7M2 xenograft tumor model showed that combination of anti-PD-1 antibody and OBP-502 significantly reduced tumor growth compared to mock treatment or monotherapy. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that OBP-502 significantly increased the number of tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells compared to mock treatment or monotherapy. By contrast, OBP-502 did not affect the number of CD4+ and Foxp3+ T cells in tumor tissues.Conclusion: These results suggest that oncolytic immunotherapy with PD-1 blockade and telomerase-specific oncolytic adenovirus is a promising antitumor strategy to promote the therapeutic potential of PD-1 blockade in OS through stimulation of antitumor immune response.Citation Format: Koji Demiya, Hiroshi Tazawa, Yusuke Mochizuki, Miho Kure, Joe Hasei, Toshiyuki Kunisada, Yasuo Urata, Toshifumi Ozaki, Toshiyoshi Fujiwara. Oncolytic immunotherapy with PD-1 blockade and telomerase-specific oncolytic adenovirus in osteosarcoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 3231.
Abstract Osteosarcoma is a rare disease diagnosed as malignant bone tumor. It is generally refractory to chemotherapy, which contributes to its poor prognosis. The reversal of chemoresistance is a major clinical challenge to improve the prognostic outcome of osteosarcoma patients. We developed a tumor-specific replication-competent oncolytic adenovirus, OBP-301 (telomelysin) and assessed its synergistic effects with chemotherapeutic agents (cisplatin and doxorubicin) using human osteosarcoma cell lines and a xenograft tumor model. The molecular mechanism underlying the chemosensitizing effect of OBP-301 was evaluated in aspects of apoptosis induction. OBP-301 inhibits anti-apoptotic myeloid cell leukemia 1 (MCL1) expression, which in turn leads to chemosensitization in human osteosarcoma cells. The siRNA-mediated knockdown of MCL1 expression sensitized human osteosarcoma cells to common chemotherapeutic agents. We also found that upregulation of microRNA-29 targeting MCL1 via virally induced transcriptional factor E2F-1 activation was critical for the enhancement of chemotherapy-induced apoptosis in osteosarcoma cells. Telomerase-specific oncolytic adenovirus synergistically suppressed the viability of human osteosarcoma cells in combination with chemotherapeutic agents. The combination treatment also significantly inhibited tumor growth, as compared to monotherapy, in an osteosarcoma xenograft tumor model. Our data suggest that replicative virus-mediated tumor-specific MCL1 ablation may be a promising strategy to attenuate chemoresistance in osteosarcoma patients.
Paired related-homeobox 1 (PRRX1) is a transcription factor in the regulation of developmental morphogenetic processes. There is growing evidence that PRRX1 is highly expressed in certain cancers and is critically involved in human survival prognosis. However, the molecular mechanism of PRRX1 in cancer malignancy remains to be elucidated.
Osteofibrous dysplasia occurs most frequently in the tibia and may result in deformity and pathological fracture. We report one such case in a 6-year-old girl who underwent minimally invasive plate osteosynthesis using a locking compression plate. The varus deformity of the tibia was manually corrected, and the plate was inserted without extensive surgical exposure. At 20-week follow-up, the fracture had healed completely, and she had returned to normal daily living. At 3-year follow-up, radiographs showed no progression of the varus deformity. Minimally invasive plate osteosynthesis is useful for treatment of pathological fractures caused by osteofibrous dysplasia. It preserves blood flow at the fracture site, leading to good bone healing and stability to prevent further deformity and an early return to daily activity.
The aim of this study is to evaluate whether thallium-201 (201-Tl) scintigraphy can differentiate malignant from benign soft-tissue tumors.Between April 1995 and December 2005, 192 patients with soft-tissue tumors (85 malignant and 107 benign) underwent 201-Tl scintigraphy before treatment. Isotope uptake was used as a proxy for tumor-to-background ratio (TBR). The accuracy of TBR on early and delayed imaging was evaluated using the Mann-Whitney U and χ(2) tests.There was a statistically significant difference in mean TBR on early and delayed imaging of malignant and benign soft-tissue tumors (124% ± 109% vs. 22% ± 42%, and 82% ± 83% vs. 12% ± 25%, P < 0.0001). A TBR cutoff of 20% indicated the probability of malignancy on early and delayed imaging (82% sensitivity and 77% specificity; 82% sensitivity and 84% specificity, P < 0.0001). Well-differentiated liposarcomas showed low isotope accumulation, while pigmented villonodular synovitis and giant cell tumors of the tendon sheath showed high isotope accumulation.Thallium-201 scintigraphy can distinguish malignant from benign tumors with relatively high accuracy. With the exception of low grade liposarcomas and locally aggressive benign tumors, 201-Tl scintigraphy may be an effective diagnostic modality to differentiate malignant from benign soft-tissue tumors.
Myxoid liposarcoma, a rare type of tumor, accounts for approximately 30% of all liposarcomas. Myxoid liposarcomas harboring the FUS/CHOP fusion gene have shown promising results with trabectedin in basic research and some clinical experiments. However, the efficacy and safety of trabectedin in chemotherapy-naive soft tissue sarcomas or FUS/CHOP fusion gene-positive myxoid liposarcomas have not yet been established. Therefore, we evaluated the effectiveness and safety of trabectedin monotherapy in four cases of myxoid liposarcoma harboring the FUS/CHOP fusion gene at our hospital.