Bioselection of a gain of function mutation that enhances adenovirus 5 release and improves its antitumoral potency

Genetic bioselection of a mutagenized Ad5wt stock in human tumor xenografts led us to isolate AdT1, a mutant displaying a large-plaque phenotype in vitro and an enhanced systemic antitumor activity in vivo. AdT1 phenotype correlates with an increased progeny release without affecting total viral yield in different human tumors and cancer-associated fibroblasts. An approach combining hybrid Ad5/AdT1 recombinants and sequencing identified a truncating insertion in the endoplasmic reticulum retention domain of the E3/19K protein (445A mutation) which relocates the protein to the plasma membrane and is responsible for AdT1's enhanced release. E3/19K-445A phenotype does not correlate with the protein's ability to interact with MHC-I or induce apoptosis. Intracellular calcium measurement revealed that the 445A mutation induces extracellular Ca(2+) influx, deregulating intracellular Ca(2+) homeostasis and inducing membrane permeabilization, a viroporin-like function. E3/19K-445A mutants also display enhanced antitumoral activity when injected both intratumorally and systemically in different models in vivo. Our results indicate that the inclusion of mutation 445A in tumor-selective adenoviruses would be a very powerful tool to enhance their antitumor efficacy.