Armed Oncolytic Myxoma Virus Demonstrates Transgene Production, Function, And Therapeutic Activity Xenograft Models.

Abstract Oncolytic viruses (OV) selectively replicate in and lyse tumor cells and provide stimulation to the immune system, representing a promising therapeutic option in development to treat cancers that do not respond well to treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors. Myxoma virus (MYXV) is a member of the Pox family of double stranded DNA viruses. The natural host of MYXV is a subset of rabbits and hares, but MYXV is able to infect cancer cell lines of humans and other species. The genome of MYXV is relatively large and is amenable to engineering for expression of transgenic proteins, making it an excellent oncolytic virus for introduction of immunomodulatory proteins. Viral reproduction rates, transgene production, transgene function, and inhibition of cell growth of multi-armed myxoma virus was evaluated in vitro using cell lines representing multiple human cancer indications. Efficacy and mechanism of action of multi-armed myxoma virus was also demonstrated in vivo via xenograft models. Multi-armed myxoma represents a novel, engineerable, oncolytic virus with preclinical characteristics that warrant further investigation as an immunomodulatory cancer therapeutic. Citation Format: Lina S. Franco, Mario Abrantes, Wazir Abdullahi, Ana L. de Matos, Benjamin S. Walker, Zachary Tacner, Cassandra Kien, Nicole Grigaitis, Grant McFadden, Steven J. Potts, Leslie L. Sharp. Armed oncolytic myxoma virus demonstrates transgene production, function, and therapeutic activity xenograft models [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 1920.