联合应用新城疫病毒及其 HN基因对小鼠黑色素瘤抑制效应的研究

背景与目的:尽管新城疫病毒( Newcastle disease virus, NDV)对多种肿瘤具有抑制作用 ,但其抑瘤机制尚不完全清楚.以前的研究结果表明,该病毒的血凝素神经氨酸酶( hemagglutinin-neuraminidase,HN)基因在该病毒的抗肿瘤作用上发挥重要作用且 HN蛋白表达后能够定位于肿瘤细胞膜上,以 HN蛋白作为肿瘤细胞的外源抗原来研究其抑瘤作用尚未见报道.本研究拟探讨 HN蛋白作为外源抗原在新城疫病毒抗肿瘤的作用以及二者联合应用对小鼠黑色素瘤的抑制效应.方法:在 C57BL/6小鼠右后肢皮下接种 B16黑色素瘤细胞 2× 105个.荷瘤第 2天,左后肢肌肉注射含新城疫病毒 HN基因的重组质粒,荷瘤第 7天,瘤内注射新城疫病毒 2× 109pfu;同时设单独 HN基因或 NDV治疗组及注射 PBS的对照组.通过抑瘤率观察动物体内的抑瘤效果;通过特异性细胞毒 T淋巴细胞( cytotoxic T lymphocyte,CTL)实验, ICAM Ⅰ、 CD48及新城疫病毒 HN蛋白在肿瘤细胞表面表达检测,探讨 HN蛋白所介导的抑瘤作用.结果:联合应用新城疫病毒及该病毒 HN基因对肿瘤的抑制效果明显好于单独 HN基因及新城疫病毒,抑瘤率达 82.8%,特异性 CTL反应增强,对靶细胞的杀伤率为 18.4%;单独 HN基因及新城疫病毒治疗组的抑瘤率分别为 56.6%、 41.0%,特异性 CTL活性分别为 4.4%、 10.1%;瘤内注射 NDV的肿瘤细胞表面检测到 HN分子的表达, ICAM Ⅰ、 CD48分子表达上调.结论:定位于肿瘤细胞表面的 HN蛋白介导机体对肿瘤细胞的特异性杀伤,联合应用新城疫病毒及该病毒 HN基因显著增强了机体对肿瘤细胞的杀伤效应.     

Effective introduction of T cell costimulatory molecules into virus modified tumor cell vaccines by modification with bispecific antibodies

This report describes the generation of bispecific antibodies which bind with one arm to virus modified tumor cell vaccines and introduce with the other arm anti-murine CD28 T cell costimulatory molecules. This is an effective alternative to somatic gene therapy strategies using genes coding for ligands of CD28 such as CD80 (B7-1) or CD86 (B7-2). While these B7 molecules interact not only with CD28 but also with CLTA-4, thereby generating a negative signal, agonistic anti CD28 antibodies only bind to CD28 and therefore deliver only positive costimulatory signals. The new bispecific antibody (bsAb) HN x CD28 allows the introduction of anti-CD28 antibodies into the tumor cell vaccine ATV-NDV, an autologous tumor cell vaccine already modified by infection with Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV). The bsAb HN x CD28 attaches with its anti-HN binding site to the NDV derived hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) molecule which serves as a common foreign anchoring molecule in the vaccine. NDV infected tumor cells which were further modified with HN x CD28 on their cell surface (bs-vaccine), showed increased T cell stimulatory capacity in vitro. This was revealed by augmented proliferation as well as augmented CTL activity. When syngeneic mice were injected with aggressive murine ESb lymphoma cells which were infected with NDV and further modified with the bsAb HN x CD28, delayed tumor development and prolonged survival was observed in comparison to respective controls.     

Optimization studies for the coupling of bispecific antibodies to viral anchor molecules of a tumor vaccine

Tumor vaccines have to provide several signals for T cell activation. Among them, signal 1 (through TCR/CD3) and signal 2 (through CD28) are the most important. We herein describe a procedure to introduce anti-CD3 and anti-CD28 signals into any tumor cell which is susceptible to infection by Newcastle disease virus (NDV). We developed the ATV-NDV tumor vaccine which consists of patient-derived tumor cells (ATV) modified through infection by NDV. We tested for further improvement of vaccine efficiency the addition of two bispecific single-chain antibodies. They bind with one arm to the viral hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) or fusion (F) protein of NDV expressed at the surface of the vaccine cells while the second arm is directed either against CD3 or CD28 of T cells. The aim of this study was to optimize the coupling of these new reagents to the tumor vaccine. When anti-CD3 and anti-CD28 molecules bind to the same anchoring viral molecule (e.g. HN), competition for binding could occur under certain conditions. This was not the case when the bispecific reagents bound to separate viral molecules (HN or F, respectively). When using transfectants expressing HN and F either separately or on the same cell, we show that T cell activation works best when anti-CD3 and anti-CD28 are attached to the same stimulator cell. The clinical application of such a combined therapy with ATV-NDV vaccine cells and bi-specific antibodies allows to modify the strength of signal 1 and 2 in a quantitative and predictable way according to the immune status of the T cells and the requirements of the patients' immune system.     

Selective gene transfer to tumor cells by recombinant Newcastle Disease Virus via a bispecific fusion protein

Much interest exists presently in development of vectors for gene therapy of tumors based on RNA viruses because these viruses replicate in the cytoplasm and do not integrate into DNA. The negative stranded paramyxovirus, Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV) from chicken has the additional advantages of preferential replication in tumor cells and of oncolytic and immunostimulatory properties. We here describe the bispecific fusion protein alphaHN-IL-2 which binds to NDV, inhibits its normal cell binding property and introduces a new binding specificity for the interleukin-2 receptor (IL-2R). We demonstrate selective gene transfer to tumor cells expressing IL-2R via the bispecific fusion protein when using recombinant NDV carrying as marker gene the enhanced green fluorescence protein (NDFL-EGFP). Hemadsorption (HA) and neuraminidase activities (NA) of the HN protein of NDV were shown to be blocked by alphaHN-IL-2 simultaneously and the absence of HA-activity of modified NDV was confirmed in vivo. Retargeted virus-binding to IL-2R positive tumor cells was not sufficient for the process of cellular infection. It required in addition membrane fusion via the viral F-protein. By modification of recombinant NDV with a bispecific molecule, our results demonstrate a novel and safe strategy for selective gene transfer to targeted tumor cells.     

Tumor selective replication of Newcastle disease virus: association with defects of tumor cells in antiviral defence

To investigate tumor-selective viral replication, we compared several tumorigenic human cell lines to nontumorigenic human cells from the blood for the sensitivity to become infected by a recombinant lentogenic strain of Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV) with incorporated transgene EGFP (NDFL-EGFP). Although fluorescence signals in nontumorigenic cells were only weak or missing completely, a massive and long-lasting transgene-expression was observed in all tumor cell lines. The majority of tumor cells (50-95%) could be infected, and viral replication was associated with an increase in the cell surface density of viral antigens. To clarify the underlying mechanism of the observed difference in virus susceptibility we examined the kinetics of interferon-induced antiviral enzymes because NDV is a strong type-I interferon inducer. This analysis revealed several defects of tumor cells in their antiviral defence responses: They showed no response to UV-inactivated NDV, whereas nontumorigenic cells reacted with induction of high-levels of the antiviral enzymes PKR and MxA. Upon coincubation with live NDV, tumor cells showed a delayed response in the increased expression of the antiviral enzymes in comparison with PBMC. In nontumorigenic cells the replication cycle of NDV stopped after the production of positive-strand RNA, while tumor cells continued in the replication cycle and copied viral genomes 10-50 hr after infection. These results can explain the tumor selective replication behavior of this interesting antineoplastic virus.     

Importance of serine 200 for functional activities of the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase protein of Newcastle Disease Virus

Newcastle disease virus (NDV) is an avian paramyxovirus with replication competence in human tumor cells and interesting anti-neoplastic and immune stimulatory properties. In order to increase tumor selectivity of replication, we prepared mutants from the avirulent strain Ulster with monocyclic replication cycle and adapted them for multicyclic replication in human melanoma cells. Two mutants (M1 and M2) showed interesting functional differences: while M2 showed T cell co-stimulatory effects in a tumor-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) assay, M1 did not. A distinct difference of these 2 virus mutants appeared also when testing their capacity to induce interferon-alpha and -beta as well as tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) molecules in human monocytes. Sequence analysis of the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) molecules of the 2 virus mutants showed 7 non-silent mutational differences. Upon cloning of the HN mutant genes into an expression vector and transfection of cells, only HN derived from M2 (HN-M2) was detected at the cell surface by immunostaining with specific antibodies and showed hemadsorption and neuraminidase activity. In order to define which amino acid was responsible for the loss of functional activity of HN derived from M1 (HN-M1), distinct HN mutants were generated via site-directed mutagenesis and tested. Substitution of serine 200 by a proline abrogated HN expression and its hemadsorption and neuraminidase activities. Molecular modeling revealed that proline 200 in HN influences flexibility of a loop near the entrance to the neuraminidase active site, a function that may be crucial for the functions of this viral protein.     

新城疫病毒HN基因对肝癌细胞SMMC7721的细胞毒性研究

目的:探讨新城疫病毒HN基因对肝癌细胞SMNC7721的杀伤作用及其机制.方法:以脂质体介导方法在体外转染含新城疫病毒HN基因的质粒pVHN于细胞SMMC7721 24 h后,采用MTT法检测细胞活性;3,5-二羟基甲苯测定其唾液酸含量的变化;丫啶橙/溴化乙锭(AO/EB)染色,荧光显微镜观察细胞形态学改变;以及FCM检测病毒HN基因和HLA-A,B,C的表达.结果:体外转染pVHN能显著地降低细胞表面唾液酸含量(P＜0.05),有效地杀伤肿瘤细胞SMMC7721;荧光显微镜观察可见典型的细胞死亡形态学改变;实验组细胞与对照组比较HN表达差异显著,HLA-A,B,C表达上调.结论:HN基因在体外能够显著降低肿瘤细胞表面唾液酸含量,同时,使其高表达HN抗原,上调HLA-A,B,C表达,从而,可能增强了肿瘤细胞的抗原性和免疫识别,诱导了细胞SMMC7721死亡.     

Dendritic cells pulsed with viral oncolysates potently stimulate autologous T cells from cancer patients

We demonstrated before that primary operated breast cancer patients contain in their bone marrow (BM) cancer reactive memory T cells (MTC) which have to be re-activated to become tumor infiltrating effector cells. The aim of this study was to optimize an ex vivo stimulation protocol for MTC based on autologous dendritic cells (DC). As source of tumor antigens we used lysates from unmodified tumor cells or from tumor cells infected with Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV) which contain IFN-alpha inducing viral dsRNA as one danger signal. DC from breast cancer patients were pulsed with lysates from the MCF-7 breast cancer line (Tu-L) or from NDV infected MCF-7 cells (TuN-L, viral oncolysates) and compared for stimulatory capacity in an ELISPOT response of autologous BM derived MTC. To analyze potential further danger signals derived from NDV infection, we employed MALDI mass spectrometry, Western blots, FACS cytometry and ELISA tests. DC pulsed with viral oncolysates showed increased expression of co-stimulatory molecules in comparison to Tu-L pulsed DC and induced significantly higher ELISPOT MTC responses. Supernatants from co-cultures of MTC and TuN-L pulsed DC contained increased titers of IFN-alpha and IL-15. NDV infection of tumor cells resulted in a number of differences in protein expression including a heat-shock protein (HSP27) which became phosphorylated. The results suggest that a DC preparation pulsed with viral oncolysate includes danger signals (e.g. dsRNA, cytokines, HSP molecules) and is superior for MTC stimulation to a DC preparation pulsed with lysate from non-infected tumor cells.     

Selective gene transfer in vitro to tumor cells via recombinant Newcastle disease virus

We developed a novel strategy to target recombinant Newcastle disease virus (NDV) to tumor cells for gene therapy. Modifying the virus with a bispecific fusion protein allowed virus receptor-independent tumor cell binding and gene transfer. The targeting molecule (alpha)HN-IL-2 contains an scFv antibody cloned from a neutralizing hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN)-specific hybridoma linked to the human cytokine IL-2. A recombinant NDV expressing the enhanced green fluorescent protein (NDFL-EGFP) was applied to show the expression of foreign genes in virus-infected tumor cells. At 24 hours after infection with the modified virus (NDFL-EGFP/(alpha)HN-IL-2), FACS analysis and fluorescence microscopy revealed neutralization of natural infection in IL-2 receptor-negative Jurkat leukemia cells, but targeted expression of EGFP in IL-2 receptor-positive human leukemia-derived MT-2 cells. The targeted gene delivery of NDFL-EGFP/(alpha)HN-IL-2 in MT-2 cells was blocked by the target ligand human IL-2. Selective virus entry to IL-2 receptor bearing tumor cells was also observed in a mixture of Jurkat and MT-2 cell lines. These results demonstrate that a recombinant NDV carrying a foreign gene can be successfully targeted to a specific tumor through a bispecific protein, which thereby increases the selectivity of gene transfer.     

新城疫病毒HN基因与鸡贫血病毒VP3基因对裸鼠荷HCT肿瘤的治疗

目的：寻求有效的肿瘤基因治疗方法，研究新城疫病毒HN基因与鸡贫血病毒VP3基因在无胸腺裸鼠体内的抗肿瘤作用。方法：建立BALB/c裸小鼠荷人结肠癌模型，瘤内注射脂质体包裹的真核重组子pVHN和pVVP3。观测pVHN和pVVP3治疗荷HCT裸鼠的效果，免疫组化法检测肿瘤细胞Bcl2和PCNA的表达。结果:经HN基因和VP3基因联合治疗组的小鼠与荷瘤对照组小鼠相比，肿瘤体积明显缩小，抑瘤率可达70%。病理组织切片表明，治疗组裸鼠体内肿瘤细胞大量凋亡，局部地方可见细胞消失。免疫组化表明， Bcl2和PCNA蛋白在荷HCT裸鼠对照组与各治疗组均有表达，其中Bcl2表达在荷瘤对照组与pVHN治疗组差异有显著意义（P<0.05），PCNA表达在荷瘤对照组与pVHN+pVVP3治疗组差异极其显著（P<0.01）。结论: NDV HN基因与凋亡素VP3基因对裸鼠荷HCT肿瘤细胞的增殖有一定抑制作用，可诱导其凋亡,其凋亡可能与下调Bcl2表达有关。     

Targeting of IL-2 and GM-CSF immunocytokines to a tumor vaccine leads to increased anti-tumor activity

Fusion proteins combining antibodies with cytokines such as IL-2 and GM-CSF appear to be promising reagents for tumor therapy. In this study, we combined such immunocytokines with the tumor vaccine ATV-NDV consisting of irradiated tumor cells infected with Newcastle disease virus (NDV). The two fusion proteins bsF-GMCSF and tsHN-IL2-GM-CSF, binding, respectively, to the viral fusion protein (F) or to hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) expressed on the surface of the vaccine cells and containing GM-CSF or GM-CSF and IL-2-activities were produced by recombinant antibody technology. The purified molecules showed the expected binding specificity and biological activity inherent to the respective cytokine. Using a newly established in?vitro tumor neutralisation assay (TNA), we showed improved antitumoral effect through tumor growth inhibition when human peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy donors were stimulated with immunocytokine modified versus non-modified tumor vaccine cells. These effects induced by the fusion proteins, in the presence of a suboptimal T cell activation signal 1 provided by bsHN-CD3, occured only when these were bound to the tumor vaccine. Furthermore, it was shown that CD14+ monocytes could be activated by the GM-CSF cytokine fused within the recombinant proteins and that they contributed essentially to the antitumor effect in the TNA. The data presented here suggest an easy way for a broad clinical development and application of tumor-targeted IL-2- and GM-CSF-based immunocytokines based on the associated increase of anti-tumor activity mediated by T cells and monocytes.     

In vivo efficacy of systemic tumor targeting of a viral RNA vector with oncolytic properties using a bispecific adapter protein

The aim of the study was: i) to specifically target tumor tissue by Newcastle disease virus (NDV) with oncolytic properties, ii) to improve the delivery system for systemic application of NDV via a bispecific adapter protein and iii) to investigate anti-tumor activity and side-effects. We selected two oncolytic virus strains, one native and the other recombinant, which showed multicyclic replication patterns in tumor cells. In order to reduce normal cell binding, they were modified by preincubation with a recombinant bispecific protein which blocks the viral native cell binding site and introduces a new binding site for a tumor-associated target (in this study, the interleukin-2-receptor, IL-2R). After intravenous transfer to mice, uptake of modified NDV in liver, spleen, kidney and lung was greatly reduced in comparison to unmodified NDV as determined by RRT-PCR of viral M gene copies. In IL-2R+ tumor bearing mice, the same assay revealed a high replication efficiency of the modified virus in the tumor tissue. Tumor therapy experiments showed that the side-effects induced by systemic application were greatly reduced by the adapter protein and that the anti-tumor effects were mostly undiminished. The demonstration of significant systemic anti-tumor activity of this viral vector suggests potential for augmentation by inclusion of one or more therapeutic genes.     

Importance of retinoic acid-inducible gene I and of receptor for type I interferon for cellular resistance to infection by Newcastle disease virus

Newcastle disease virus (NDV) is an avian paramyxovirus with oncolytic properties which shows promising effects in the treatment of cancer. Anti-cancer effects are due to the virus ability: i) to replicate in and kill tumor cells, leading finally to their selective elimination; and ii) to induce the stimulation of antitumor activities in immune cells. NDV does not harm normal cells and has a high safety profile. In this study, we first report a direct correlation between the degree of cell resistance to NDV infection and the cellular expression of the retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I) which is a cytosolic viral RNA receptor. RIG-I plays an important role in the recognition of and response to infection by RNA viruses. We also demonstrate that impairment of the interferon (IFN) pathway through deletion of the receptor for type I IFN (IFNR1) in primary macrophages leads to NDV replication. In tumor cells, addition of exogenous IFN-α4 is shown to lead to tumor growth reduction and inhibition of viral replication. Finally, increase of the RIG-I concentration of tumor cells via plasmid transfection is shown to be associated with a stronger resistance to NDV infection. These findings shed new light on the crucial role played by the cytosolic receptor RIG-I and the plasma membrane receptor IFNR1 as key molecules to protect cells against infection by NDV.     

Activation of human T cells by a tumor vaccine infected with recombinant Newcastle disease virus producing IL-2

A new recombinant (rec) Newcastle disease virus (NDV) with incorporated human interleukin 2 (IL-2) as foreign therapeutic gene [rec(IL-2)] will be described. The foreign gene in rec(IL-2) did not affect the main features of NDV replication nor its tumor selectivity. Biologically active IL-2 was produced in high amounts by tumor cells infected with rec(IL-2). Tumor vaccine cells infected by rec(IL-2) stimulated human T cells to exert anti-tumor activity in vitro in a tumor neutralization assay. These effects were significantly increased when compared to vaccine infected by rec(-) virus without IL-2 gene. After incubation with rec(IL-2) infected tumor cells, T cells showed increased expression of the activation marker CD69 and produced increased amounts of IFNgamma when compared to T cells co-incubated with rec(-) infected tumor cells. CD8 T cells incubated with rec(IL-2) infected tumor cells showed upregulation of perforin, cell surface exposure of the degranulation marker CD107a and increased anti-tumor cytotoxic activity. Purified T cells from lymph nodes of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients could be stimulated to secrete IFNgamma in an ELISPOT assay upon 40 h of stimulation with rec(IL-2) infected autologous tumor cells [ATV-rec(IL-2)] but not upon stimulation with rec(IL-2) infected allogeneic U937 tumor cells. This suggests direct activation of patient derived tumor antigen-specific memory T cells by ATV-rec(IL-2). In conclusion, the already inherent immunostimulatory properties of NDV could be further augmented by the introduction of the therapeutic gene IL-2. Active specific immunization of patients with ATV-rec(IL-2) should provide the microenvironment at the vaccination site with IL-2 and avoid side effects as seen after systemic IL-2 application.     

Two ways to induce innate immune responses in human PBMCs: paracrine stimulation of IFN-alpha responses by viral protein or dsRNA

In order to study mechanisms of induction of IFN-alpha by Newcastle disease virus (NDV), we used two replicon systems which are based respectively on DNA and RNA of the Semliki forest virus (SFV) and transfected these into baby hamster kidney cells (BHK) which do not produce interferon-alpha. Co-incubation of BHK cells which were transfected with the two vector systems, with human PBMCs, showed that production of IFN-alpha takes place by two different ways. When using the DNA-based SFV vector, only transfectants expressing cell surface HN molecules of NDV (and not the mock-transfected cells) elicited such a response via interaction of these HN molecules with viral receptors on PBMCs. In contrast, BHK cells transfected with RNA which had been in vitro transcribed from the RNA-based SFV vector without foreign gene as insert (mock-transfected) elicited a comparable IFN-alpha response. Transfer by transfection of poly(I:C), an analogue of double stranded RNA (dsRNA), into the BHK cells induced also by itself the production of IFN-alpha. Therefore induction of "danger signals" (as double-strand RNA replicative intermediates) might be responsible for this discrepancy observed in IFN-alpha induction in PBMCs between the two studied SFV vector systems based on transfection of DNA and on RNA. These observations highlight two ways of IFN-alpha induction which additively may explain the high interferonogenic capacity of NDV as virus: i) via cell-surface expressed HN after transfection of the DNA-based SFV replicon and ii) via transfection of self-amplifying RNA.     

新城疫病毒长春株和四平株致细胞死亡方式的研究

目的：研究NDV长春株和四平株致细胞死亡的方式,方法：采用空斑试验、细胞抑制试验、琼脂糖电泳及TUNEL染色等方法进行研究。结果：NDV长春株和四平株对鸡胚成纤维细胞（CEF）、BHK、HeLa,Hep-2,HCT和OS－732等肿瘤细胞产生明显的病变,而对人的羊膜细胞（Wish细胞）无明显影响。结论：长春株对肿瘤细胞的抑制作用强于四平株,长春株对肿瘤细胞的抑制不存在量效关系,只有量适剂量才引起最强的抑制作用,长春株和四平株在体外引起细胞死亡的途径不完全一致,长春株导致细胞死亡以凋亡为主,而四平株导致细胞死亡以坏死为主。     

Transient infection of freshly isolated human colorectal tumor cells by reovirus T3D intermediate subviral particles

Reovirus T3D preferentially kills tumor cells expressing Ras oncogenes and has shown great promise as an anticancer agent in various preclinical tumor models. Here, we investigated whether reovirus can infect and kill tumor cell cultures and tissue fragments isolated from resected human colorectal tumors, and whether this was affected by the presence of endogenous oncogenic KRAS. Tissue fragments and single-cell populations isolated from human colorectal tumor biopsies were infected with reovirus virions or with intermediate subviral particles (ISVPs). Reovirus virions were capable of infecting neither single-cell tumor cell populations nor small fragments of intact viable tumor tissue. However, infection of tumor cells with ISVPs resulted in transient viral protein synthesis, irrespective of the presence of oncogenic KRAS, but this did not lead to the production of infectious virus particles, and tumor cell viability was largely unaffected. ISVPs failed to infect intact tissue fragments. Thermolysin treatment of tumor tissue liberated single cells from the tissue and allowed infection with ISVPs, but this did not result in the production of infectious virus particles. Immunohistochemistry on tissue microarrays showed that junction adhesion molecule 1, the major cellular reovirus receptor, was improperly localized in the cytoplasm of colorectal tumor cells and was expressed at very low levels in liver metastases. This may contribute to the observed resistance of tumor cells to reovirus T3D virions. We conclude that infection of human colorectal tumor cells by reovirus T3D requires processing of virions to ISVPs, but that oncolysis is prevented by a tumor cell response that aborts viral protein synthesis and the generation of infectious viral particles, irrespective of KRAS mutation status.     

An effective strategy of human tumor vaccine modification by coupling bispecific costimulatory molecules.

A new, generally applicable procedure is described for the introduction of defined costimulatory molecules into human cancer cells to increase their T-cell stimulatory capacity. The procedure involves infection with Newcastle disease virus to mediate the cell surface binding of costimulatory molecules (e.g., specially designed bispecific antibodies (bsAb)). The modification is independent of tumor cell proliferation and laborious recombinant gene technology and can be applied directly to freshly isolated and gamma-irradiated patient-derived tumor cells as an autologous cancer vaccine. Following the infection of tumor cells with a nonvirulent strain of Newcastle disease virus, the cells are washed and then further modified by coincubation with bsAbs, which attach with one arm to the viral hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) molecule on the infected tumor cells. The second specificity of one bsAb (bs HN x CD28) is directed against CD28 to augment antitumor T-cell responses by selectively channeling positive costimulatory signals via the CD28 pathway. A second bsAb (bs HN x CD3) was produced to deliver T-cell receptor-mediated signals either alone (bsCD3 vaccine) or in combination with anti-CD28 (bsCD3 vaccine plus bsCD28 vaccine). In human T-cell stimulation studies in vitro, the bsCD28 vaccine caused an up-regulation of early (CD69) and late (CD25) T-cell activation markers on CD4 and CD8 T lymphocytes from either normal healthy donors or cancer patients (autologous system) and induced tumor cytostasis in nonmodified bystander tumor cells. In addition, in combination with the bsCD3 vaccine, augmented antitumor cytotoxicity and T-cell proliferative responses were observed. This tumor vaccine modification procedure is highly specific, quick, economic, and has a broad range of clinical applications.