Remission of Spontaneous Canine Tumors after Systemic Cellular Viroimmunotherapy

Dogs with spontaneous tumors treated in veterinary hospitals offer an excellent opportunity for studying immunotherapies, including oncolytic viruses. Oncolytic viruses have advanced into the clinic as an intratumorally administered therapeutic; however, intravenous delivery has been hindered by neutralization in the blood. To circumvent this hurdle, mesenchymal stem cells have been used as a "Trojan horse." Here, we present the treatment of 27 canine patients with cancer with canine mesenchymal stem cells infected with ICOCAV17, a canine oncolytic adenovirus. No significant adverse effects were found. The response rate was 74%, with 14.8% showing complete responses, including total remissions of lung metastasis. We detected virus infection, stromal degeneration, and immune cell infiltration in tumor biopsies after 4 weeks of treatment. The increased presence of antiadenoviral antibodies in the peripheral blood of treated dogs did not appear to prevent the clinical benefit of this therapy. These data indicate that oncolytic viruses loaded in mesenchymal stem cells represent an effective cancer immunotherapy.Significance: The classical clinical limitations of antitumoral viroimmunotherapy can be overcome by use of mesenchymal stem cells.Graphical Abstract: http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/canres/78/17/4891/F1.large.jpg Cancer Res; 78(17); 4891-901. ©2018 AACR.