A Recombinant Oncolytic Influenza Virus Carrying GV1001 Triggers an Antitumor Immune Response

Oncolytic viruses are able to lyse tumor cells selectively in the liver without killing normal hepatocytes, in addition to activating the immune response. Oncolytic virus therapy is expected to revolutionize the treatment of liver cancer, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), one of the most frequent and fatal malignancies. In this study, reverse genetics techniques were exploited to load NA fragments of the A/PuertoRico/8/34 virus (PR8) with GV1001 peptides derived from human telomerase reverse transcriptase. An in vitro assessment of the therapeutic effect of the recombinant oncolytic virus was followed by an in vivo study in mice with HCC. The recombinant virus was verified by sequencing of the recombinant viral gene sequence, and viral virulence was detected by hemagglutination assays and based on the 50% tissue culture infectious dose (TCID₅₀). The morphological structure of the virus was observed by electron microscopy, and GV1001 peptide was localized by cellular immunofluorescence. The selective cytotoxicity of the recombinant oncolytic virus in vitro was demonstrated in cultured HCC cells and normal hepatocytes, as only the tumor cells were killed; the normal cells were not significantly altered. Consistent with the in vitro results, the recombinant oncolytic influenza virus significantly inhibited liver tumor growth in mice in vivo, in addition to inducing an antitumor immune response, including an increase in the number of CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T lymphocytes and, in turn, improving survival. Our results suggest that oncolytic influenza virus carrying GV1001 is a promising immunotherapy in patients with HCC.