Endogenous expression of proteases in colon cancer cells facilitate influenza A viruses mediated oncolysis

Previously we have developed a prototype for conditionally replicating oncolytic influenza A virus which is based on deletions in the non-structural (NS1) protein. Multi-cycle replication of influenza A virus in malignant tissue is critically dependent on a protease which cleaves the viral entry protein. Here we demonstrate that the malignant colon cancer cell lines Caco-2, HT-29 and SW-620 can endogenously provide a virus-activating protease, which allows lytic multi-cycle replication of NS1 deletion viruses in those cancer cells in vitro. The oncolytic potency of an influenza NS1 deletion virus (NS1-80) was further tested in SCID mice bearing HT-29 derived tumors. The intra-tumoral injection of live, but not of heat inactivated NS1-80 virus significantly inhibited progression of established tumors. We conclude that a selected set of human cancer expressing virus activating- proteases will be a preferred target for oncolytic tumor therapy using influenza A virus mutants.