Local Immune Stimulation by Intravesical Instillation of Baculovirus to Enable Bladder Cancer Therapy

Sci Rep. 2016 Jun 8:6:27455. doi: 10.1038/srep27455.

Abstract

Intravesical instillation of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin is currently used as adjuvant therapy for superficial, non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). However, nearly 40% of patients with NMIBC will fail Bacillus Calmette-Guérin therapy. In an attempt to investigate the feasibility of using insect baculovirus-based vectors for bladder cancer therapy, we observed that intravesical instillation of baculoviruses without transgene up-regulated a set of Th1-type of cytokines and increased the survival rate of mice bearing established orthotopic bladder tumors. When baculoviral vectors were used to co-deliver the mouse CD40 ligand and IL-15 genes through intravesical instillation, the immunogene therapy triggered significantly increased bladder infiltrations of inflammatory monocytes, CD4(+), CD8(+) and γδ T lymphocytes. All treated animals survived beyond 12 months whereas control animals died around 2 months after tumor inoculation. We conclude that direct intravesical instillation of baculoviral gene transfer vectors holds the potential to be a novel therapeutic modality for NMIBC.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Baculoviridae / physiology*
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Female
  • Heterografts
  • Humans
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Oncolytic Virotherapy*
  • Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / immunology
  • Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / therapy*