Systemic therapy of myeloma xenografts by an attenuated measles virus

Abstract

Conditionally replicating viruses are promising agents for the treatment of malignancy. Here it is shown that the live attenuated Edmonston-B vaccine strain of measles virus (MV-Edm) replicates selectively in human myeloma cells and has potent antitumor activity. In vitro, replication of MV-Edm was restricted in phytohemagglutinin (PHA)-stimulated peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) but proceeded efficiently in a panel of 6 myeloma cell lines—ARH-77, RPMI 8226, JJN-3, MM1, KAS-6/1, and KMS-11—and in primary myeloma cells isolated by CD138 sorting from the bone marrow aspirates of 6 patients. MV-Edm infection induced potent cytopathic effects in these myeloma cells, resulting in the formation of multinucleated syncytia that eventually became nonviable. In contrast, syncytial formation in PHA-stimulated PBLs was minimal after MV-Edm infection. In vivo, MV-Edm was antitumorigenic and inhibited the establishment of myeloma cells as xenografts in immunocompromised mice. When injected directly into ARH-77 myeloma xenografts in the mice, MV-Edm caused complete regression of these xenografts. MV-Edm administered intravenously into the tail veins of mice also showed significant antineoplastic activity against established RPMI 8226 and ARH-77 xenografts. In particular, the ARH-77 myeloma xenografts were exquisitely sensitive to MV-Edm therapy, and tumors in all mice regressed completely. In light of its selectivity for myeloma cells and its potent antineoplastic activity against myeloma xenografts in vivo, MV-Edm merits further development for the treatment of multiple myeloma.