ASSESSING AN M MUTANT VESICULAR STOMATITIS VIRUS FOR THE TREATMENT OF GLIOBLASTOMA MULTIFORME BY DETERMINING APOPTOTIC MECHANISMS AND ANTIVIRAL RESPONSE

Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) is a potential oncolytic virus for treating glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), an aggressive brain tumor. Matrix (M) protein mutants of VSV have shown greater selectivity for killing GBM cells versus normal brain cells, compared to VSV with wild-type M protein. The goal of experiments presented here was to determine mechanisms of M protein mutant (M51R) VSV induced apoptosis and how innate antiviral responses affect infection of GBM tumor cells. When compared to controls, U-87 GBM tumor cells expressing a dominant negative form of Fas (dnFas) or over-expressing Bcl-XL had reduced caspase-3 activation following infection with M51R VSV indicating that both the death receptor and mitochondrial pathways are important for M51R VSV induced apoptosis. Direct activation of Fas in Bcl-XL over-expressing cells inhibited caspase activation indicating that U-87 cells behave as type II cells. Inhibition of apoptosis in vitro delayed, but did not prevent virus-induced cell death. Murine xenografts of U-87 cells over-expressing Bcl-XL regressed with a similar rate to control cells following M51R VSV infection. Immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated similar levels of viral antigen expression, but reduced activation of caspase-3 following virus treatment of Bcl-XL-over-expressing tumors compared to controls.

Grantor dc:publisher

Wake Forest University

Year dc:date.issued

2011

Author dc:creator

• Cary, Zachary Dylan

• brain tumor

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/33497

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/33497