Mammalian orthoreovirus infection in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positive (HER2+) breast cancer cells

Mammalian orthoreovirus (MRV) is a clinically benign oncolytic virus which has been investigated for use in multiple cancer types, including breast cancer (BC). In human clinical trials, MRV has been shown to be safe, and multiple BC patients have shown partial responses to intratumoral and intravenous virus delivery. Combination therapies inclusive of MRV and current FDA approved BC chemotherapies are being investigated to target metastatic, early BC, and triple negative BC. Though MRV is being tested clinically, we still do not fully understand the highly variable patient responses to MRV therapy. One of the most aggressive BC subtypes is HER2+ BC, in which human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is dysregulated, resulting in increased growth, survival, and metastasis of cancer cells. FDA approved therapies, trastuzumab and pertuzumab, target HER2 to prevent signaling of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway. However, recent findings show that accumulation of hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1α) in HER2+ BC cells contributes to trastuzumab resistance. In this work, we provide evidence that MRV infects, replicates in, and kills HER2 overexpressing cells. MRV infection is also found to have variable effects on signaling pathways that activate or are activated by HER2 expression. Finally, we show that MRV reduces HIF-1α accumulation in all the cell lines tested, including a HER2+ BC cell line. These studies provide further evidence that MRV holds promise for use in conjunction with trastuzumab to treat HER2+ BC patients.