There are some viruses, called oncolytic viruses, that can be trained to target and kill cancer cells. Scientists in the field of oncolytics want to engineer these viruses to make them safer and more effective so they can be used to treat more people and different types of cancers. To achieve this, they first have to fully understand at the molecular level all the different ways that the virus has evolved to infect healthy cells and cause disease. A research team from Cardiff University set out to better understand how a protein on the surface of a virus often used to kill cancer, called an adenovirus, binds to human cells to cause an infection. Using X-ray crystallography, the team was able to determine the structure of one the key adenovirus proteins. Using this information and after extensive computational analysis, the research team realised the virus was not binding the receptor on the cells that was originally thought. This has important implications for the development of new virotherapies and engineering of viruses to treat cancer. The more thoroughly the researchers can understand how the adenoviruses interact with cancer cells at the molecular level, the more safe and effective treatments can be brought to clinical trial in the future.
Oncolytic virology is the study of viruses that target and kill cancer cells. There are a few naturally occurring viruses that do this, but since the 1960s many have been engineered in labs to target a variety of different cancers. There is a huge benefit to using viruses to fight cancer as they can unpick all of the surreptitious ways cancer cells evade other treatments. Firstly, viruses can be engineered to target cancer cells very specifically which minimises adverse effects around the body. Once they seek out cancer cells, they infect and replicate within them, killing the cell and releasing thousands more viruses to kill the rest of the tumour. The virus is therefore able to spread within the tumour to neighbouring cancer cells which is often difficult for cancer drugs. In effect, the viruses act as a cancer treatment that can self-amplify at the site of the tumour.
One virus family that is often used in oncolytics is the adenovirus family. Alex Baker, a PhD student from Cardiff University who recently carried out experiments at I04, is studying understudied types of Adenovirus. He explained that:
They are rarely occurring which means people don’t often have pre-existing immunity to them.
This is important in oncolytics where previous exposure to the virus can often result in the immune system rapidly recognising the virus as foreign and eliminating it, rendering the treatment useless.
Rare viruses don’t represent a significant healthcare burden and so haven’t been a research priority until now, however they can make good candidates for Oncolytics which has renewed scientific interest in these rarely isolated viruses. Before using a virus as a treatment, it is important to know how it is going to behave, and many potentially useful viruses are poorly understood on account of being rare. So, it us up to researchers like Alex and the team of researchers led by Alan Parker at Cardiff university to better understand these viruses.
If we know how the viruses work, we can either make them do it better, or stop them doing it altogether.
The idea is that by understanding the molecular detail of all components that make up an oncolytic therapy, then we can engineer them to be more effective and safer.
To learn more about the I04 beamline, or to discuss potential applications, please contact Principal Beamline Scientist Ralf Flaig: ralf.flaig@diamond.ac.uk
Baker, A.T., Greenshields-Watson, A., Coughlan, L., Davies, J.A., Uusi-Kerttula, H., Cole, D.K., Rizkallah, P.J.,Parker, A.L.. Diversity within the adenovirus fiber knob hypervariable loops influences primary receptor interactions. Nature Communications. 10.Article number: 741. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-08599-y (2019)
Diamond Light Source is the UK's national synchrotron science facility, located at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire.
Copyright © 2022 Diamond Light Source
Diamond Light Source Ltd
Diamond House
Harwell Science & Innovation Campus
Didcot
Oxfordshire
OX11 0DE
Diamond Light Source® and the Diamond logo are registered trademarks of Diamond Light Source Ltd
Registered in England and Wales at Diamond House, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Didcot, Oxfordshire, OX11 0DE, United Kingdom. Company number: 4375679. VAT number: 287 461 957. Economic Operators Registration and Identification (EORI) number: GB287461957003.
Science