TY - JOUR

T1 - Cancer associated endogenous retroviruses

T2 - Ideal immune targets for adenovirus-based immunotherapy

AU - Bermejo, Amaia Vergara

AU - Ragonnaud, Emeline

AU - Daradoumis, Joana

AU - Holst, Peter

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - Cancer is a major challenge in our societies, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) about 1/6 deaths were cancer related in 2018 and it is considered the second leading cause of death globally. Immunotherapies have changed the paradigm of oncologic treatment for several cancers where the field had fallen short in providing competent therapies. Despite the improvement, broadly acting and highly effective therapies capable of eliminating or preventing human cancers with insufficient mutated antigens are still missing. Adenoviral vector-based vaccines are a successful tool in the treatment of various diseases including cancer; however, their success has been limited. In this review we discuss the potential of adenovirus as therapeutic tools and the current developments to use them against cancer. More specifically, we examine how to use them to target endogenous retroviruses (ERVs). ERVs, comprising 8% of the human genome, have been detected in several cancers, while they remain silent in healthy tissues. Their low immunogenicity together with their immunosuppressive capacity aid cancer to escape immunosurveillance. In that regard, virus-like-vaccine (VLV) technology, combining adenoviral vectors and virus-like-particles (VLPs), can be ideal to target ERVs and elicit B-cell responses, as well as CD8+ and CD4+ T-cells responses.

AB - Cancer is a major challenge in our societies, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) about 1/6 deaths were cancer related in 2018 and it is considered the second leading cause of death globally. Immunotherapies have changed the paradigm of oncologic treatment for several cancers where the field had fallen short in providing competent therapies. Despite the improvement, broadly acting and highly effective therapies capable of eliminating or preventing human cancers with insufficient mutated antigens are still missing. Adenoviral vector-based vaccines are a successful tool in the treatment of various diseases including cancer; however, their success has been limited. In this review we discuss the potential of adenovirus as therapeutic tools and the current developments to use them against cancer. More specifically, we examine how to use them to target endogenous retroviruses (ERVs). ERVs, comprising 8% of the human genome, have been detected in several cancers, while they remain silent in healthy tissues. Their low immunogenicity together with their immunosuppressive capacity aid cancer to escape immunosurveillance. In that regard, virus-like-vaccine (VLV) technology, combining adenoviral vectors and virus-like-particles (VLPs), can be ideal to target ERVs and elicit B-cell responses, as well as CD8+ and CD4+ T-cells responses.

KW - Adenoviral vector

KW - Adenovirus

KW - Cancer

KW - Endogenous retrovirus

KW - Envelope

KW - Immunology

KW - Immunotherapy

KW - Virus-like-particles

KW - Virus-like-vaccines

U2 - 10.3390/ijms21144843

DO - 10.3390/ijms21144843

M3 - Review

C2 - 32650622

AN - SCOPUS:85087785620

VL - 21

SP - 1

EP - 21

JO - International Journal of Molecular Sciences (Online)

JF - International Journal of Molecular Sciences (Online)

SN - 1661-6596

IS - 14

M1 - 4843

ER -