Macrophage response to oncolytic paramyxoviruses potentiates virus-mediated tumor cell killing

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are known to regulate tumor response to many anti-cancer therapies, including oncolytic virotherapy. Oncolytic virotherapy employing oncolytic paramyxoviruses, such as attenuated measles (MeV) and mumps (MuV) viruses, has demonstrated therapeutic potential against various malignancies. However, the response of TAMs to oncolytic paramyxoviruses and the consequent effect on virotherapeutic efficacy remains to be characterized. Here, we demonstrate that the presence of human monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs), irrespective of initial polarization state, enhances the virotherapeutic effect of MeV and MuV on breast cancer cells. Notably, our finding contrasts those of several studies involving other oncolytic viruses, which suggest that TAMs negatively impact virotherapeutic efficacy by impeding virus replication and dissemination. We found that the enhanced virotherapeutic effect in the presence of MDMs was due to slightly delayed proliferation and significantly elevated cell death that was not a result of increased virus replication. Instead, we found that the enhanced virotherapeutic effect involved several macrophage-associated anti-tumor mediators, and was associated with the modulation of MDMs towards an anti-tumor phenotype. Our findings present an alternative view on the role of TAMs in oncolytic virotherapy, and highlight the immunotherapeutic potential of oncolytic paramyxoviruses; possibly contributing towards the overall efficacy of oncolytic virotherapy.