MUNOZ ALIA MIGUEL A (US)
RUSSELL STEPHEN JAMES (US)
MUNOZ ALIA MIGUEL A (US)
WHAT IS CLAIMED IS: 1. A CDV F polypeptide having signal peptide sequence that is less than 75 amino acid residues in length. 2. The CDV F polypeptide of claim 1, wherein said signal peptide sequence comprises no more than 75 amino acid residues of SEQ ID NO:6. 3. The CDV F polypeptide of any one of claims 1-2, wherein said CDV F polypeptide comprises SEQ ID NO:4 with the proviso that said CDV F polypeptide lacks at least amino acid residues 1 to 60 or lacks at least amino acid residues 1 to 105 of SEQ ID NO:4. 4. The CDV F polypeptide of any one of claims 1-3, wherein a recombinant virus comprising said CDV F polypeptide and a CDV H polypeptide exhibits increased fusogenic activity as compared to a comparable control recombinant virus comprising a full length, wild-type CDV F polypeptide and said CDV H polypeptide. 5. A nucleic acid molecule encoding a CDV F polypeptide of any one of claims 1-4. 6. A recombinant virus comprising a CDV F polypeptide of any one of claims 1-4. 7. A recombinant virus comprising a nucleic acid molecule of claim 5. 8. A CDV H polypeptide comprising 454A, 464A, 479A, 494A, 510A, 520A, 525A, 526A, 527S, 528A, 529A, 537A, 539A, 547A, 548A, or a combination thereof according to the amino acid numbering of SEQ ID NO:2. 9. The CDV H polypeptide of claim 8, wherein said CDV H polypeptide comprises a combination of two, three, four, five, or six of 454A, 464A, 479A, 494A, 510A, 520A, 525A, 526A, 527S, 528A, 529A, 537A, 539A, 547A, and 548A. 10. The CDV H polypeptide of claim 8, wherein said CDV H polypeptide comprises a combination of seven, eight, nine, ten, or eleven of 454A, 464A, 479A, 494A, 510A, 520A, 525A, 526A, 527S, 528A, 529A, 537A, 539A, 547A, and 548A. 11. The CDV H polypeptide of claim 8, wherein said CDV H polypeptide comprises a combination of 12, 13, or 14 of 454A, 464A, 479A, 494A, 510A, 520A, 525A, 526A, 527S, 528A, 529A, 537A, 539A, 547A, and 548A. 12. The CDV H polypeptide of claim 8, wherein said CDV H polypeptide comprises 454A, 464A, 479A, 494A, 510A, 520A, 525A, 526A, 527S, 528A, 529A, 537A, 539A, 547A, and 548A. 13. The CDV H polypeptide of claim 8, wherein said CDV H polypeptide comprises M437 according to the amino acid numbering of SEQ ID NO:5. 14. A CDV H polypeptide comprising the sequence set forth in Figure 11 except that said sequence comprises a mutation of a presented amino acid residue selected from the group consisting of P454, V/L/F460, L/F/W479, I494, I/L/V510, Y520, Y/N525, D/G526, I/V527, S/T528, R529, Y/D537, Y539, Y/F547, and T/M548 according to the amino acid numbering of SEQ ID NO:5. 15. The CDV H polypeptide of claim 14, wherein said CDV H polypeptide comprises a mutation of two, three, four, five, or six presented amino acid residues selected from said group. 16. The CDV H polypeptide of claim 14, wherein said CDV H polypeptide comprises a mutation of seven, eight, nine, ten, or eleven presented amino acid residues selected from said group. 17. The CDV H polypeptide of claim 14, wherein said CDV H polypeptide comprises a mutation of 12, 13, or 14 presented amino acid residues selected from said group. 18. The CDV H polypeptide of claim 14, wherein said CDV H polypeptide comprises a mutation of the presented amino acid residues of said group. 19. The CDV H polypeptide of claim 14, wherein said CDV H polypeptide comprises M437 according to the amino acid numbering of SEQ ID NO:5. 20. A nucleic acid molecule encoding a CDV H polypeptide of any one of claims 8- 19. 21. A recombinant virus comprising a CDV H polypeptide of any one of claims 8-19. 22. The recombinant virus of claim 21, wherein said virus comprises a CDV F polypeptide of any one of claims 1-4. 23. A recombinant virus comprising a nucleic acid molecule of claim 20. 24. The recombinant virus of claim 23, wherein said virus comprises a nucleic acid molecule of claim 5. 25. The recombinant virus of any one of claims 6, 7, and 21-24, wherein said recombinant virus is hybrid virus of (a) CDV and (b) VSV, MeV, or Adenovirus. 26. A replication-competent vesicular stomatitis virus comprising an RNA molecule, wherein said RNA molecule comprises a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a VSV N polypeptide, a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a VSV P polypeptide, a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a VSV M polypeptide, a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a CDV F polypeptide, a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a CDV H polypeptide, and a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a VSV L polypeptide, wherein said RNA molecule lacks a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a functional VSV G polypeptide. 27. The virus of claim 26, wherein said CDV F polypeptide is a CDV F polypeptide of any one of claims 1-4. 28. The virus of any one of claims 26-27, wherein said CDV H polypeptide is a CDV H polypeptide of any one of claims 8-19. 29. The virus of any one of claims 26-28, wherein said CDV H polypeptide comprises an amino acid sequence of a single chain antibody. 30. The virus of claim 29, wherein said single chain antibody is a single chain antibody directed to CD19, CD20, CD38, CD46, EGFR, ?FR, HER2/neu, or PSMA. 31. The virus of any one of claims 26-30, wherein said RNA molecule comprises a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a NIS polypeptide. 32. A composition comprising a virus of any one of claims 6, 7, and 21-31. 33. A nucleic acid molecule comprising a nucleic acid strand comprising a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a VSV N polypeptide, a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a VSV P polypeptide, a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a VSV M polypeptide, a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a CDV F polypeptide, a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a CDV H polypeptide, and a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a VSV L polypeptide, wherein said nucleic acid strand lacks a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a functional VSV G polypeptide. 34. The nucleic acid molecule of claim 33, wherein said CDV F polypeptide is a CDV F polypeptide of any one of claims 1-4. 35. The nucleic acid molecule of any one of claims 33-34, wherein said CDV H polypeptide is a CDV H polypeptide of any one of claims 8-19. 36. The nucleic acid molecule of any one of claims 33-35, wherein said CDV H polypeptide comprises an amino acid sequence of a single chain antibody. 37. The nucleic acid molecule of claim 36, wherein said single chain antibody is a single chain antibody directed to CD19, CD20, CD38, CD46, EGFR, ?FR, HER2/neu, or PSMA. 38. The nucleic acid molecule of any one of claims 33-37, wherein said RNA molecule comprises a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a NIS polypeptide. 39. A composition comprising a nucleic acid molecule of any one of claims 5, 20, and 33-38. 40. A method for treating cancer, wherein said method comprises administering a composition of any one of claims 32 and 39 to a mammal comprising cancer cells, wherein the number of cancer cells within said mammal is reduced following said administration. 41. The method of claim 40, wherein said mammal is a human. 42. The method of any one of claims 40-41, wherein said cancer is myeloma, melanoma, glioma, lymphoma, mesothelioma, lung cancer, brain cancer, stomach cancer, colon cancer, rectum cancer, kidney cancer, prostate cancer, ovary cancer, breast cancer, pancreas cancer, liver cancer, or head and neck cancer. 43. A method for inducing tumor regression in a mammal, wherein said method comprises administering a composition of any one of claims 32 and 39 to a mammal comprising a tumor, wherein the size of said tumor is reduced following said administration. 44. The method of claim 43, wherein said mammal is a human. 45. The method of any one of claims 43-44, wherein said cancer is myeloma, melanoma, glioma, lymphoma, mesothelioma, lung cancer, brain cancer, stomach cancer, colon cancer, rectum cancer, kidney cancer, prostate cancer, ovary cancer, breast cancer, pancreas cancer, liver cancer, or head and neck cancer. 46. A method for rescuing replication-competent vesicular stomatitis viruses from cells, wherein said vesicular stomatitis viruses comprise an RNA molecule comprising a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a VSV N polypeptide, a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a VSV P polypeptide, a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a VSV M polypeptide, a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a CDV F polypeptide, a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a CDV H polypeptide, and a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a VSV L polypeptide, wherein said RNA molecule lacks a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a functional VSV G polypeptide, wherein said method comprises: (a) inserting nucleic acid encoding said RNA molecule into said cells under conditions wherein replication-competent vesicular stomatitis viruses are produced, and (b) harvesting said replication-competent vesicular stomatitis viruses. |
Table 3. Examples of combinations of mutations from Table 2 that can be included within a CDV H polypeptide. This document also provides recombinant viruses (e.g., VSVs) containing a CDV H polypeptide provided herein and/or a CDV F polypeptide provided herein as well as methods for making recombinant viruses (e.g., VSVs) containing a CDV H polypeptide provided herein and/or a CDV F polypeptide provided herein. For example, a recombinant virus (e.g., VSV) can be designed to include (a) a CDV H polypeptide provided herein and a wild-type CDV F polypeptide, (b) a wild-type CDV H polypeptide and a CDV F polypeptide provided herein, or (c) a CDV H polypeptide provided herein and a CDV F polypeptide provided herein. In some cases, a recombinant virus (e.g., VSV) can be designed to include a CDV H polypeptide having CDV H 5804 and a CDV F polypeptide having CDV F 22458/16. This document also provides nucleic acid molecules encoding a CDV H polypeptide provided herein and/or nucleic acid molecules encoding a CDV F polypeptide provided herein. For example, a nucleic acid molecule (e.g., a vector) can be designed to encode a CDV H polypeptide provided herein and/or a CDV F polypeptide provided herein. This document provides methods and materials related to VSVs. For example, this document provides replication-competent VSVs, nucleic acid molecules encoding replication-competent VSVs, methods for making replication-competent VSVs, and methods for using replication-competent VSVs to treat cancer or infectious diseases. As described herein, a VSV can be designed to have a nucleic acid molecule that encodes a VSV N polypeptide, a VSV P polypeptide, a VSV M polypeptide, a CDV F polypeptide (e.g., a CDV F polypeptide provided herein), a CDV H polypeptide (e.g., a CDV H polypeptide provided herein), and a VSV L polypeptide, and does not encode a functional VSV G polypeptide. It will be appreciated that the sequences described herein with respect to a VSV are incorporated into a plasmid coding for the positive sense cDNA of the viral genome allowing generation of the negative sense genome of VSVs. Thus, it will be appreciated that a nucleic acid sequence that encodes a VSV polypeptide, for example, can refer to an RNA sequence that is the template for the positive sense transcript that encodes (e.g., via direct translation) that polypeptide. The nucleic acid encoding the CDV F polypeptide and the CDV H polypeptide can be positioned at any location within the VSV genome. In some cases, the nucleic acid encoding the CDV F polypeptide and the CDV H polypeptide can be positioned downstream of the nucleic acid encoding the VSV M polypeptide. For example, nucleic acid encoding a CDV F polypeptide and nucleic acid encoding a CDV H polypeptide can be positioned between nucleic acid encoding a VSV M polypeptide and nucleic acid encoding a VSV L polypeptide. Any appropriate nucleic acid encoding a CDV F polypeptide can be inserted into the genome of a VSV. For example, nucleic acid encoding a wild-type CDV F polypeptide or a CDV F polypeptide provided herein can be inserted into the genome of a VSV. Any appropriate nucleic acid encoding a CDV H polypeptide can be inserted into the genome of a VSV. For example, nucleic acid encoding a wild-type H polypeptide or a H polypeptide provided herein can be inserted into the genome of a VSV. In some cases, nucleic acid encoding a CDV H polypeptide that lacks specificity for SLAMF1 and/or Nectin-4 can be inserted into the genome of a VSV. For example, nucleic acid encoding a CDV H polypeptide having one or more mutations set forth in Table 2 can be inserted into the genome of a VSV. In some cases, a VSV/CDV hybrid provided herein can be designed to have a preselected tropism. For example, CDV F and/or H polypeptides having knocked out specificity for SLAMF1 and/or Nectin-4 can be used such that a scFv or polypeptide ligand can be attached to, for example, the C-terminus of the CDV H polypeptide. In such cases, scFv or polypeptide ligand can determine the tropism of a VSV/CDV hybrid. Examples of scFvs that can be used to direct VSV/CDV hybrids to cellular receptors (e.g., tumor associated cellular receptors) include, without limitation, anti-EGFR, anti-CD46, anti-αFR, anti-PSMA, anti-HER-2, anti-CD19, anti-CD20, or anti-CD38 scFvs. Examples of polypeptide ligands that can be used to direct VSV/CDV hybrids include, without limitation, urokinase plasminogen activator uPA polypeptides, cytokines such as IL-13, single chain T cell receptors (scTCRs), echistatin polypeptides, and integrin binding polypeptides. In some cases, the nucleic acid molecule of VSV provided herein can encode an IFN polypeptide, a fluorescent polypeptide (e.g., a GFP polypeptide), a NIS polypeptide, a therapeutic polypeptide, an innate immunity antagonizing polypeptide, a tumor antigen, or a combination thereof. Nucleic acid encoding an IFN polypeptide can be positioned downstream of nucleic acid encoding a VSV M polypeptide. For example, nucleic acid encoding an IFN polypeptide can be positioned between nucleic acid encoding a VSV M polypeptide and nucleic acid encoding a CDV F polypeptide or nucleic acid encoding a CDV H polypeptide. Such a position can allow the viruses to express an amount of IFN polypeptide that is effective to activate anti-viral innate immune responses in non- cancerous tissues, and thus alleviate potential viral toxicity, without impeding efficient viral replication in cancer cells. Any appropriate nucleic acid encoding an IFN polypeptide can be inserted into the genome of a VSV. For example, nucleic acid encoding an IFN beta polypeptide can be inserted into the genome of a VSV. Examples of nucleic acid encoding IFN beta polypeptides that can be inserted into the genome of a VSV include, without limitation, nucleic acid encoding a human IFN beta polypeptide of the nucleic acid sequence set forth in GenBank ® Accession No. NM_002176.2 (GI No.50593016), nucleic acid encoding a mouse IFN beta polypeptide of the nucleic acid sequence set forth in GenBank ® Accession Nos. NM_010510.1 (GI No.6754303), BC119395.1 (GI No. 111601321), or BC119397.1 (GI No.111601034), and nucleic acid encoding a rat IFN beta polypeptide of the nucleic acid sequence set forth in GenBank ® Accession No. NM_019127.1 (GI No.9506800). Nucleic acid encoding a NIS polypeptide can be positioned downstream of nucleic acid encoding a CDV F polypeptide or nucleic acid encoding a CDV H polypeptide. For example, nucleic acid encoding a NIS polypeptide can be positioned between nucleic acid encoding a CDV F or H polypeptide and nucleic acid encoding a VSV L polypeptide. Such a position of can allow the viruses to express an amount of NIS polypeptide that (a) is effective to allow selective accumulation of iodide in infected cells, thereby allowing both imaging of viral distribution using radioisotopes and radiotherapy targeted to infected cancer cells, and (b) is not so high as to be toxic to infected cells. Any appropriate nucleic acid encoding a NIS polypeptide can be inserted into the genome of a VSV. For example, nucleic acid encoding a human NIS polypeptide can be inserted into the genome of a VSV. Examples of nucleic acid encoding NIS polypeptides that can be inserted into the genome of a VSV include, without limitation, nucleic acid encoding a human NIS polypeptide of the nucleic acid sequence set forth in GenBank ® Accession Nos. NM_000453.2 (GI No.164663746), BC105049.1 (GI No.85397913), or BC105047.1 (GI No.85397519), nucleic acid encoding a mouse NIS polypeptide of the nucleic acid sequence set forth in GenBank ® Accession Nos. NM_053248.2 (GI No. 162138896), AF380353.1 (GI No.14290144), or AF235001.1 (GI No. 12642413), nucleic acid encoding a chimpanzee NIS polypeptide of the nucleic acid sequence set forth in GenBank ® Accession No. XM_524154 (GI No.114676080), nucleic acid encoding a dog NIS polypeptide of the nucleic acid sequence set forth in GenBank ® Accession No. XM_541946 (GI No.73986161), nucleic acid encoding a cow NIS polypeptide of the nucleic acid sequence set forth in GenBank ® Accession No. XM_581578 (GI No.297466916), nucleic acid encoding a pig NIS polypeptide of the nucleic acid sequence set forth in GenBank ® Accession No. NM_214410 (GI No. 47523871), and nucleic acid encoding a rat NIS polypeptide of the nucleic acid sequence set forth in GenBank ® Accession No. NM_052983 (GI No.158138504). The nucleic acid sequences of a VSV provided herein that encode a VSV N polypeptide, a VSV P polypeptide, a VSV M polypeptide, and a VSV L polypeptide can be from a VSV Indiana strain as set forth in GenBank ® Accession Nos. NC_001560 (GI No.9627229) or can be from a VSV New Jersey strain. In one aspect, this document provides VSVs containing a nucleic acid molecule (e.g., an RNA molecule) having (e.g., in a 3’ to 5’ direction) a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a VSV N polypeptide, a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a VSV P polypeptide, a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a VSV M polypeptide, a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a CDV F polypeptide, a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a CDV H polypeptide, and a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a VSV L polypeptide while lacking a nucleic acid sequence that is a template for a positive sense transcript encoding a functional VSV G polypeptide. Such VSVs can infect cells (e.g., cancer cells) and be replication-competent. Any appropriate method can be used to insert nucleic acid (e.g., nucleic acid encoding a CDV F polypeptide, nucleic acid encoding a CDV H polypeptide, nucleic acid encoding an IFN polypeptide, and/or nucleic acid encoding a NIS polypeptide) into the genome of a VSV. For example, the methods described elsewhere (Schnell et. al., PNAS, 93:11359-11365 (1996), Obuchi et al., J. Virol., 77(16):8843-56 (2003)); Goel et al., Blood, 110(7):2342-50 (2007)); and Kelly et al., J. Virol., 84(3):1550-62 (2010)) can be used to insert nucleic acid into the genome of a VSV. Any appropriate method can be used to identify VSVs containing a nucleic acid molecule described herein. Such methods include, without limitation, PCR and nucleic acid hybridization techniques such as Northern and Southern analysis. In some cases, immunohistochemistry and biochemical techniques can be used to determine if a VSV contains a particular nucleic acid molecule by detecting the expression of a polypeptide encoded by that particular nucleic acid molecule. In another aspect, this document provides nucleic acid molecules that encode a VSV N polypeptide, a VSV P polypeptide, a VSV M polypeptide, a CDV F polypeptide, a CDV H polypeptide, and a VSV L polypeptide, while lacking the ability to encode a functional VSV G polypeptide. For example, a nucleic acid molecule provided herein can be a single nucleic acid molecule that includes a nucleic acid sequence that encodes a VSV N polypeptide, a nucleic acid sequence that encodes a VSV P polypeptide, a nucleic acid sequence that encodes a VSV M polypeptide, a nucleic acid sequence that encodes a CDV F polypeptide, a nucleic acid sequence that encodes a CDV H polypeptide, and a nucleic acid sequence that encodes a VSV L polypeptide, while lacking a nucleic acid sequence that encodes a functional VSV G polypeptide. In another aspect, this document provides nucleic acid molecules that encode a VSV N polypeptide, a VSV P polypeptide, a VSV M polypeptide, an IFN polypeptide, a CDV F polypeptide, a CDV H polypeptide, a NIS polypeptide, and a VSV L polypeptide, while lacking the ability to encode a functional VSV G polypeptide. For example, a nucleic acid molecule provided herein can be a single nucleic acid molecule that includes a nucleic acid sequence that encodes a VSV N polypeptide, a nucleic acid sequence that encodes a VSV P polypeptide, a nucleic acid sequence that encodes a VSV M polypeptide, a nucleic acid sequence that encodes an IFN polypeptide, a nucleic acid sequence that encodes a CDV F polypeptide, a nucleic acid sequence that encodes a CDV H polypeptide, a nucleic acid sequence that encodes a NIS polypeptide, and a nucleic acid sequence that encodes a VSV L polypeptide, while lacking the ability to encode a functional VSV G polypeptide. The term “nucleic acid” as used herein encompasses both RNA (e.g., viral RNA) and DNA, including cDNA, genomic DNA, and synthetic (e.g., chemically synthesized) DNA. A nucleic acid can be double-stranded or single-stranded. A single-stranded nucleic acid can be the sense strand or the antisense strand. In addition, a nucleic acid can be circular or linear. This document also provides method for treating cancer (e.g., to reduce tumor size, inhibit tumor growth, or reduce the number of viable tumor cells), methods for inducing host immunity against cancer, and methods for treating an infectious disease such as HIV or measles. For example, a recombinant virus (e.g., a VSV) provided herein can be administered to a mammal having cancer to reduce tumor size, to inhibit cancer cell or tumor growth, to reduce the number of viable cancer cells within the mammal, and/or to induce host immunogeneic responses against a tumor. A recombinant virus (e.g., a VSV) provided herein can be propagated in host cells in order to increase the available number of copies of that virus, typically by at least 2-fold (e.g., by 5- to 10-fold, by 50- to 100-fold, by 500- to 1,000-fold, or even by as much as 5,000- to 10,000-fold). In some cases, a recombinant virus (e.g., a VSV) provided herein can be expanded until a desired concentration is obtained in standard cell culture media (e.g., DMEM or RPMI- 1640 supplemented with 5-10% fetal bovine serum at 37°C in 5% CO 2 ). A viral titer typically is assayed by inoculating cells (e.g., Vero cells) in culture. Recombinant viruses (e.g., VSVs) provided herein can be administered to a cancer patient by, for example, direct injection into a group of cancer cells (e.g., a tumor) or intravenous delivery to cancer cells. A recombinant virus (e.g., a VSV) provided herein can be used to treat different types of cancer including, without limitation, myeloma (e.g., multiple myeloma), melanoma, glioma, lymphoma, mesothelioma, and cancers of the lung, brain, stomach, colon, rectum, kidney, prostate, ovary, breast, pancreas, liver, and head and neck. Recombinant viruses (e.g., VSVs) provided herein can be administered to a patient in a biologically compatible solution or a pharmaceutically acceptable delivery vehicle, by administration either directly into a group of cancer cells (e.g., intratumorally) or systemically (e.g., intravenously). Suitable pharmaceutical formulations depend in part upon the use and the route of entry, e.g., transdermal or by injection. Such forms should not prevent the composition or formulation from reaching a target cell (i.e., a cell to which the virus is desired to be delivered to) or from exerting its effect. For example, pharmacological compositions injected into the blood stream should be soluble. While dosages administered will vary from patient to patient (e.g., depending upon the size of a tumor), an effective dose can be determined by setting as a lower limit the concentration of virus proven to be safe and escalating to higher doses of up to 10 12 pfu, while monitoring for a reduction in cancer cell growth along with the presence of any deleterious side effects. A therapeutically effective dose typically provides at least a 10% reduction in the number of cancer cells or in tumor size. Escalating dose studies can be used to obtain a desired effect for a given viral treatment (see, e.g., Nies and Spielberg, “Principles of Therapeutics,” In Goodman & Gilman’s The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, eds. Hardman, et al., McGraw-Hill, NY, 1996, pp 43-62). Recombinant viruses (e.g., VSVs) provided herein can be delivered in a dose ranging from, for example, about 10 3 pfu to about 10 12 pfu (e.g., about 10 5 pfu to about 10 12 pfu, about 10 6 pfu to about 10 11 pfu, or about 10 6 pfu to about 10 10 pfu). A therapeutically effective dose can be provided in repeated doses. Repeat dosing is appropriate in cases in which observations of clinical symptoms or tumor size or monitoring assays indicate either that a group of cancer cells or tumor has stopped shrinking or that the degree of viral activity is declining while the tumor is still present. Repeat doses can be administered by the same route as initially used or by another route. A therapeutically effective dose can be delivered in several discrete doses (e.g., days or weeks apart) and in one embodiment, one to about twelve doses are provided. Alternatively, a therapeutically effective dose of recombinant viruses (e.g., VSVs) provided herein can be delivered by a sustained release formulation. In some cases, a recombinant virus (e.g., a VSV) provided herein can be delivered in combination with pharmacological agents that facilitate viral replication and spread within cancer cells or agents that protect non-cancer cells from viral toxicity. Examples of such agents are described elsewhere (Alvarez-Breckenridge et al., Chem. Rev., 109(7):3125-40 (2009)). Recombinant viruses (e.g., VSVs) provided herein can be administered using a device for providing sustained release. A formulation for sustained release of recombinant viruses (e.g., VSVs) provided herein can include, for example, a polymeric excipient (e.g., a swellable or non-swellable gel, or collagen). A therapeutically effective dose of recombinant viruses (e.g., VSVs) provided herein can be provided within a polymeric excipient, wherein the excipient/virus composition is implanted at a site of cancer cells (e.g., in proximity to or within a tumor). The action of body fluids gradually dissolves the excipient and continuously releases the effective dose of virus over a period of time. Alternatively, a sustained release device can contain a series of alternating active and spacer layers. Each active layer of such a device typically contains a dose of virus embedded in excipient, while each spacer layer contains only excipient or low concentrations of virus (i.e., lower than the effective dose). As each successive layer of the device dissolves, pulsed doses of virus are delivered. The size/formulation of the spacer layers determines the time interval between doses and is optimized according to the therapeutic regimen being used. In some cases, recombinant viruses (e.g., VSVs) provided herein can be directly administered. For example, a virus can be injected directly into a tumor (e.g., a breast cancer tumor) that is palpable through the skin. Ultrasound guidance also can be used in such a method. Alternatively, direct administration of a virus can be achieved via a catheter line or other medical access device, and can be used in conjunction with an imaging system to localize a group of cancer cells. By this method, an implantable dosing device typically is placed in proximity to a group of cancer cells using a guidewire inserted into the medical access device. An effective dose of a recombinant virus (e.g., a VSV) provided herein can be directly administered to a group of cancer cells that is visible in an exposed surgical field. In some cases, recombinant viruses (e.g., VSVs) provided herein can be delivered systemically. For example, systemic delivery can be achieved intravenously via injection or via an intravenous delivery device designed for administration of multiple doses of a medicament. Such devices include, but are not limited to, winged infusion needles, peripheral intravenous catheters, midline catheters, peripherally inserted central catheters, and surgically placed catheters or ports. The course of therapy with a recombinant virus (e.g., a VSV) provided herein can be monitored by evaluating changes in clinical symptoms or by direct monitoring of the number of cancer cells or size of a tumor. For a solid tumor, the effectiveness of virus treatment can be assessed by measuring the size or weight of the tumor before and after treatment. Tumor size can be measured either directly (e.g., using calipers), or by using imaging techniques (e.g., X-ray, magnetic resonance imaging, or computerized tomography) or from the assessment of non-imaging optical data (e.g., spectral data). For a group of cancer cells (e.g., leukemia cells), the effectiveness of viral treatment can be determined by measuring the absolute number of leukemia cells in the circulation of a patient before and after treatment. The effectiveness of viral treatment also can be assessed by monitoring the levels of a cancer specific antigen. Cancer specific antigens include, for example, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), prostate specific antigen (PSA), prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP), CA 125, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), carbohydrate antigen 15-3, and carbohydrate antigen 19-4. The invention will be further described in the following examples, which do not limit the scope of the invention described in the claims. EXAMPLES Example 1 – CDV F and H polypeptides and recombinant viruses Cell lines Vero African green monkey kidney cells (Vero; American type culture collection [ATCC], Cat. #CCL-81) and their derivatives (either expressing Nectin-4 (Noyce et al., Virology, 436(1):210-20 (2013)), SLAMF1 (Tatsuo et al., Nature, 406(6798):893-7 (2000)), dog SLAMF1 (von Messling et al., J. Virol., 77(23):12579-91 (2003)), or a membrane-anchored single-chain antibody specific for a hexahistidine peptide (Nakamura et al., Nat. Biotechnol., 23(2):209-14 (2005)) were kept in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM) (GE Healthcare Life Sciences, Cat. #SH30022.01) supplemented with 5% (vol./vol.) heat-inactivated fetal bovine serum (FBS, Gibco) and 0.5 mg/mL of Geneticin (G418; Corning) for Vero/NECTIN-4 and Vero/SLAMF1 or 1 mg/mL Zeocin (ThermoFisher) for Vero/dogSLAMF1. Human kidney epithelial cells (HEK293T) cells, obtained from Dr. Cosset (Université de Lyon), baby hamster kidney cells (BHK, ATCC, Cat.# CCL-10), human glioblastoma U-87 MG cells ((ATCC, Cat.# HTB-14), and SKOV3ip.1 human ovarian tumor cells were maintained in DMEM plus 10% FBS. Chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO) cells, CHO-CD46, and CHO-EGFR (Nakamura et al., Nat. Biotechnol., 22(3):331-6 (2004)), CHO-SLAMF1 (Tatsuo et al., Nature, 406(6798):893-7 (2000)), CHO-dogSLAMF1 (Seki et al., J. Virol., 77(18):9943-50 (2003)), CHO-NECTIN4 (Liu et al., J. Virol., 88(4):2195-204 (2014)), CHO-CD38 (Peng et al., Blood, 101:2557-62 (2003), CHO-HER2/neu (Hasegawa et al., J. Virol., 81(23): 13149-57 (2007), Burkitt’s B cell lymphoma Ramos (ATCC, Cat.# CRL-1596), and Raji cells (ATCC, Cat.# CCL-86) were cultured in Roswell Park Memorial Institute (RPMI) 1640 medium (Corning Inc., Cat. #10-040-CV, Corning, NY, United States) as described elsewhere. Plasmids and Construction of full-genome rMeV To generate CDV 22458/16 expression plasmids, total RNA was extracted from CDV 22458/16 isolate-infected Vero/dog SLAMF1 cells (passage 1) using RNeasy Mini Kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany). Both CDV-H and CDV-F genes were reverse transcribed with SuperScript III Reverse Transcriptase (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Cat.# 11752050) and amplified by PCR with the following primers: CDVH7050(+):AGAAAACTTAGGGCTCAGGTAGTCC CDVH8949(-): TCGTCTGTAAGGGATTTCTCACC CDVF4857(+): AGGACATAGCAAGCCAACAGG CDVH7050(-): GGACTACCTGAGCCCTAAGTTTTCT PCR products were sequenced directly by Sanger (Genewiz, Plainfield NJ, USA) and cloned into pJET1.2 vector (Thermo Fisher). CDV H open reading frame (Figure 8) was next PCR amplified with a forward primer (5’-CCG GTA GTT AAT TAA AAC TTA GGG TGC AAG ATC ATC GAT AAT GCT CTC CTA CCA AGA TAA GGT G-3’) and a reverse primer (5’-CTA TTT CAC ACT AGT GGG TAT GCC TGA TGT CTG GGT GAC ATC ATG TGA TTG GTT CAC TAG CAG CCT CAA GGT TTT GAA CGG TTA CAG GAG-3’) and cloned into the PacI and SpeI (New England Biolabs, Iswich MA, USA) restricted pCG vector (Cathomen et al., J. Virol., 72(2):1224-34 (1998)) using the InFusion HD kit (Takara, Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan). The primers provided the PacI and SpeI restriction sites (underlined, respectively) as well as the MeV-H untranslated region of MeV-H (italic). Similarly, a CDV F open reading frame (Figure 9; amino acid residues 136-662 of SEQ ID NO:4) was cloned into HpaI/SpeI restricted pCG-CDV-F plasmid (von Messling et al., J. Virol., 75(14):6418-27 (2001)). The resulting plasmid pCG-CDV F 22458/16 possesses the MeV-F untranslated region and the MeV-F signal peptide. Expression plasmids for CDV H/F Onderstepoort vaccine and 5804 isolate (von Messling et al., J. Virol., 75(14):6418-27 (2001)), as well as the MeV Nse are described elsewhere (Cathomen et al., J. Virol., 72(2):1224-34 (1998)). Retargeted versions of the H protein were generated by inserting the homologous PacI/SfiI-digested PCR product into the pTNH6 vectors (Nakamura et al., Nat. Biotechnol., 23(2):209-14 (2005); and Nakamura et al., Nat. Biotechnol., 22(3):331-6 (2004)). Site-directed mutagenesis (QuickChange Site-Directed Mutagenesis Kit, Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara CA, USA) was used to ablate tropism in H as well as to remove a SpeI site in CDV-F and to introduce truncations in the cytoplasmic tails. Envelope-exchange rMeVs were produced by shuttling the PacI/SpeI and NarI/PacI region of the corresponding expression plasmids. Rescue of rMeVs was carried out employing the START system (Nakamura et al., Nat. Biotechnol., 23(2):209- 14 (2005)). Protein expression Cells were transfected using Fugene HD (PROMEGA, Fitchburg WI, USA) or TransIT-LT1 transfection reagent (Mirus Bio LLC, Madison WI, USA). For quantitative fusion assay, the dual-split reporter system (Kondo et al., J. Biol. Chem., 285(19):14681- 8 (2010); and Ishikawa et al., Protein Eng. Des. Sel., 25(12):813-20 (2012)) was used as described elsewhere (Muñoz-Alía et al., Viruses, 11(8), pii: E688, doi: 0.3390/v11080688 (2019)), using BHK cells as effector cells. For semiquantitative assessment of fusion, Vero cells and derivates were transfected with 1 ?g each of H and F expression plasmids and stained 1 day later with Hema-Quik (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Cat. #123-745). Images were obtained with a microscope (Eclipse Ti-S; Nikon) at 4× magnification. Alternatively, a GFP expression plasmid was included for additional visualization of syncytia formation. For assessment of the level of H polypeptide, transfected cells were analyzed by flow cytometry or CELISA using a 6×His tag monoclonal antibody (Miltenyi Biotec, Cat. # 130-120-787 or Thermo Fisher Scientific, Cat. #MA1-135), as described elsewhere (Muñoz-Alía et al., Viruses, 11(8), pii: E688, doi: 10.3390/v11080688 (2019); and Saw et al., Methods, 90:68-75 (2015)). For total protein expression by flow cytometry, cells were treated with eBioscience Intracellular Fixation & Permeabilization buffer (Thermofisher, Cat.#88-8823-88). Virus Protein Content Virus preparations were heated in the presence of dithiothreitol, fractionated into 4-12% Bis-Tris polyacrylamide gel, and transferred to polyvinylidene fluoride membranes. Blots were analyzed with anti-MeV-Hcyt (Cathomen et al., J. Virol., 72(2):1224-34 (1998)), anti-MeV-N (Toth et al., J. Virol., 83(2):961-8 (2009)), or anti- His tag (Genscript, Piscataway NJ, USA, Cat.# A01857-40) antibodies and probed with a conjugated secondary rabbit antibody (ThermoFisher, Cat.#31642). The blots were incubated with SuperSignal Wester Pico chemiluminescent substrate (ThermoFisher) and analyzed with a ChemiDoc Imaging Sytem (Bio-Rad). Neutralization assays A fluorescence focus reduction neutralization assay was used as described elsewhere (Munoz-Alia et al., J. Virol., 91(11): e00209-17 (2017)). The polyclonal Anti- Canine Distemper Virus, Lederle Avirulent (antiserum, Ferret), was obtained through BEI resources (NR-4025). The human sera used was pooled from 60 to 80 donors who were specifically blood type AB (Valley Biomedical Products & Services, Inc, Cat. #HS1017, Lot #C80553). Results Engineering a fusogenic CDV H/F complex CDV envelope glycoproteins share a 36% (H polypeptide) and 66% (F polypeptide) amino acid homology with those of MeV. The open reading frame for the H and F polypeptides were obtained from a first-passage wild-type CDV isolate SPA.Madrid/22458/16 (CDV 22458/16) from post-mortem tissues from moribund dog (SPA.Madrid/22458/16). Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic analysis of full-length hemagglutinin genes showed that CDV H polypeptide of 22458/16 grouped within the artic clade (Figure 1). Co-transfection of H/F complexes from 22458/16 revealed fusion activity only when the SLAMF1 receptor was present (Figure 2A). A lack of fusion activity on Nectin-4-expressing cells was observed. Co-expression of a heterotypic wild type CDV H polypeptide of 5804 with CDV F polypeptide of 22458/16 resulted in noticeable syncytia formation in Vero cells expressing Nectin-4. On the other hand, H/F complexes from the large-plaque forming variant of the Onderstepoort vaccine strain resulted in large syncytia formation regardless of the expression of Nectin-4 and SLAMF1. Using a reporter gene to more accurately identify syncytia formation, the above fusogenic phenotype was confirmed for the heterotypic wild-type combination CDV H5804 polypeptide and CDV F 22458/16 polypeptide (Figure 2B). Although the lack of syncytia formation for the homotypic H/F5804 could be attribute to the presence of the native 135 amino acid-long signal peptide, the distinct fusogenic phenotype observed for CDV H/F 22458/16 , which induced cell-to-cell fusion exclusively in a SLAMF1-dependent manner, was studied further. The clone used for CDV H22458/16 polypeptide was found to contain an amino acid change with regard to the consensus sequence (M437L). This clone was used to create a clone encoding a CDV H 22458/16 polypeptide with position 437 changed from a leucine to a methionine. Tropism expansion of CDV fusion apparatus Since co-transfection of wild-type CDV H/F complexes, but not the Ondertepoort vaccine-derived H/F, resulted in syncytia formation in a specific receptor-dependent manner, the following was performed to determine whether receptor usage could be expanded to alternative receptors. As a target receptor, CD38 was chosen and for this purpose a CD38-specific scFv was displayed at the carboxy-terminal domain of the attachment protein (Figure 2C). For comparison purposes, the analysis included the MeV H polypeptide as well as the Nipah G polypeptide. Results presented in Figure 2D demonstrate that the different constructs were expressed on the surface at comparable levels. Of note, the L437M substitution of CDV H22458/16 did not seem to affect cell surface expression. Next, fusion proficiency was compared in a quantitative manner using the self-associating split luciferase assay described elsewhere (Kondo et al., J. Biol. Chem., 285:14681-14688 (2010); and Ishikawa et al., Protein Eng. Des. Sel., 25:813-820 (2012)). In this assay (Figure 2E), effector cells were transfected with expression plasmids for the H/F complex and one half of the dual split GFP/Renilla luciferase protein (DSP1-7). Similarly, target cells expressing the relevant receptor were transfected with the other half (DSP8-12). Upon content mixing, the otherwise nonfunctional halves of the GFP/Renilla luciferase protein associate, and the activity measured. The results of this experiment with effector cells expressing different H or G/F complexes are shown in Figure 2F. Whereas no fusion activity was observed when using the parental CHO cell line, fusion activity was evident on CHO cells engineered to stably express either a HIS- specific scFv (CHO-HIS) or CD38 molecule. In general, activity levels were more evident when using CD38 targeting versus the pseudoreceptor system 6xHis-anti-6xHIS scFv. These differences were more noticeable when Nipah G αCD38 was used. The fusion capacity of the former was significantly reduced in comparison with the heterotypic CDV H 5804 αCD38 polypeptide/CDV F 22458/16 polypeptide or the homotypic H/F from the Onderstepoort strain. Strikingly, the L437M substitution on CDV H22458/16 polypeptide drastically changed the fusogenic phenotype of the polypeptide, even when no differences at the expression levels were observed (Figure 2G). This new fusogenic capacity was now equivalent to that obtained with homotypic CDV H/F from 5804, only when the signal peptide of the CDV F5804 polypeptide was replaced by a shorter MeV F signal peptide. Nevertheless, the fusion levels for the heterotypic combination of CDV H 5804 αCD38 polypeptide/CDV F22458/16 polypeptide were superior and similar to those obtained by the large-plaque forming variant of the Onderstepoort. These results demonstrate not only that the CDV fusion apparatus can be engineered to use alternative receptors, but also that a hyperfusogenic phenotype can be obtained from a heterotypic combination of H/F complexes from different CDV strains in a receptor-dependent manner. This enhanced fusogenic capacity for the CDV H/F complex was achieved by shortening of the signal peptide of the CDV F polypeptide and by using a CDV polypeptide having M437. Receptor targeting The CDV H polypeptides described in the preceding paragraph could still use human Nectin-4 as a receptor. To disrupt a Nectin-4 interaction, nucleic acid encoding a CDV H polypeptide containing a Y539A mutation was produced. Figure 2H shows that the CDV H αCD38 polypeptide including the Y539A point mutation (CDVHY539A αCD38 ) lost fusion activity on human Nectin-4 cells, but it was still able to induce fusion on CHO-HIS (CDV HY539A αCD388 and CDV HY539A) and CHO-CD38 (CDV HY539A αCD388 ) cells. This fusion activity was comparable to that obtained by a fully-retargeted MeV H polypeptide (MeV Haals αCD38 and MeV Haals αCD38 ). These results demonstrate that the CDV H/F complex can be efficiently retargeted to specific receptors. Impact of ligand-binding affinity on CDV H/F driven cell-to-cell fusion To assess whether differences in the binding affinity of the ligand displayed to the ectodomain of the CDV H polypeptide influenced fusogenicity, Her2/neu-specific scFv binders as well as affibodies molecules (Hasegawa et al., J. Virol., 81(23): 13149-57 (2007); Wikman et al., Protein Eng. Des. Sel., 17(5):455-62 (2004); and Orlova et al., Cancer Res., 66(8):4339-48 (2006)) were displayed. Figure 2I shows that binding affinities higher than 1 nM were necessary to trigger fusion on CHO cells engineered to stably express Her2/neu molecules, but not in the parental cell line. This was true independently of the nature of the binder, whether it was in the form of a scFv or an affibody molecule. To investigate the relationship between the receptor density and binder affinity, the quantitative fusion assay was repeated with an array of cancer cell lines expressing different levels of Her2/neu molecules on the surface: HT1080 (1.2 x 10 4 ), Sko3pi (1.5 x 10 5 ), and TET67L (4.3 x 10 3 ). Whereas display of the affibody with the highest binding affinity (Z342, 0.022 nM) enabled CDV H to trigger fusion in all cell lines tested regardless of the receptor density, Z4 (50 nM) enabled intercellular fusion only in Skov3pi cells, which expressed the highest receptor density. These results demonstrate that there is an interplay between the binder-affinity and the receptor density on the target cell: lower receptor densities being effect with higher binder affinities. CD46-targeted CDV H/F complexes can overcome neutralization-sensitivity of oncolytic measles virus Different CD46-specific scFv binders were displayed on CDV H polypeptides in an attempt to obtain scFv-CDV H polypeptides supporting a similar fusion level to those of a MeV H Nse strain. Cell surface expression levels were compared (Figure 3A). A cellular enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (CELISA) showed that both untargeted MeV H polypeptides and CDV H polypeptides as well as CD46-targeted CDV H polypeptides were similarly expressed at the cell surface. Next, quantitative fusion assays revealed that whereas only MeV H polypeptides resulted in fusion activity in CHO- Nectin-4 cells, all but the untargeted CDV H polypeptides produced fusion in CHO-CD46 cells (Figure 3B). scFv binders A10, A09, G09, and K2 displayed on CDV H polypeptides induced fusion levels similar to those seen in MeV H polypeptides, whereas scFV G101469 and K01 were comparably lower. CDV H-scFv A09/CDV F polypeptide were chosen to replace the existing MeV coat. This virus, referred to herein as Stealth 2.0, was rescued, and the H/F polypeptides were confirmed to be successfully displayed on the virions. Western Blot analysis confirmed that MeV H polypeptide was detected only in the case of MeV when an anti-MeV H polypeptide antibody against the cytoplasmic tail was used. On the contrary, CDV H-scFV A09 polypeptide was only detected when the membrane was probed with an anti 6xHIS-tag antibody (Figure 3C). This same HIS-tag system allowed the replication of the Stealth 2.0 virus in Vero cells stably expressing the anti-HIS scFv but not in the parental Vero cell line (Figure 3D). The replication kinetics was comparable to that obtained by MeV on Vero/hSLAM. Together, these results demonstrate that the measles virus envelope H and F polypeptides can be replaced by H and F polypeptides from CDV without a negative impact on virus replication. The neutralization sensitivity of Stealth 2.0 was studied using pooled serum from 20-30 American donors. As control, CDV antisera was used. Figure 3E shows that Stealth 2.0 was insensitive to the neutralization activity of MeV antisera. On the contrary, the neutralization pattern of MeV was essentially the opposite, being neutralized by anti-measles antibodies, but not by anti-CDV antibodies. The following was performed to confirm the virus tropism endowed by the new envelope since virus-entry could occurred in the absence of evident fusion. Virus-derived GFP autofluorescence was observed when CHO cells expressed the receptors CD46, Nectin-4, and either canine or human SLAMF1 (Figure 3F). Conversely, GFP- autofluorescence driven by Stealth 2.0 was only observed in the case of anti-6xHIS scFv expression (CHO-HIS), CD46, and canine SLAMF1. These results demonstrate that a human CD46-tropic measles virus resistant to anti-measles virus antibody neutralization can be generated by using a CD46-targeted CDV H/F envelope. Stealth 2.0 induces a similar anti-tumor effect as the parental MeV The following was performed to assess the use of Stealth 2.0 as an oncolytic agent. SCID mice bearing U266.B1 tumors were treated with a single intravenous dose of either MeV or Stealth 2.0 (Figure 4A). The implanted tumors in the PBS-treated group continued to grow exponentially (Figure 4B), and they all had to be sacrificed because of tumor burden by day 12 (Figure 4C). On the contrary, both treatment groups had a slower tumor progression that resulted in a significantly increased median survival. Because similar oncolytic activity was observed for Stealth 2.0 and MeV, the latter being able to use in addition to CD46, the receptors Nectin-4 and SLAMF1, these results demonstrate that CD46 targeting is sufficient for tumor regression in a myeloma multiple model. Moreover, Stealth 2.0 demonstrated that it could substitute the current oncolytic MeV vaccine when high levels of neutralizing anti-measles virus antibodies are present in patients. CDV H/F complexes can retarget other mononegavirales The following was performed to investigate the suitability of CDV H/F complexes to govern the tropism of VSVs, which are a member of the genus Lysasavirus, family Rhadoviridae. A VSV engineered to express interferon-beta (IFN-β) and the sodium iodide symporter (NIS), VSV-hIFN?-NIS, (Naik et al., Mol. Cancer Ther., 17(1):316-326 (2018)) was obtained and modified by replacing the VSV-G polypeptide with CDV H and F polypeptides using the techniques described elsewhere (Ayala-Breton et al., Hum. Gene Ther., 23(5):484-91 (2012)). CDV F 22458/16 polypeptide and either the parental CDV H5804 polypeptide (VSV-CDVFH-GFP) or the CDV H polypeptide retargeted against EGFR (VSV-CDVFHaal-αEGFR-GFP) or CD38 (VSV-CDVFHaal-αCD38-GFP) receptors were used (Figure 5). In addition, each of the CDV H polypeptides contained a R529A mutation (CDV Haa) within the existing CDV H Y539A background to abrogate interaction with canine SLAMF1. To confirm that the new envelope complex governed virus tropism, a panel of CHO cells expressing specific receptors were infected. As shown in Figure 6, when the virus displayed the parental CDV F/H complex, GFP autofluorescence was observed in those cells expressing either Nectin-4 or canine SLAMF1 receptors. On the contrary, when the EGFR-specific scFv CDV H was present, only infection and GFP autofluorescence was observed in those cells expressing the EGFR receptor. Likewise, when the CD38-specific scFv CDV H was present, only infection and GFP autofluorescence was observed in those cells expressing the CD38 receptor. In this case, syncytia formation and cell-killing effect was observed in cells expressing CD38, but not with CHO cells expressing the EGFR receptors; whereas an opposite pattern was observed with the EGFR-specific virus (VSV-CDVFHaal-αEGFR-GFP) (Figure 7). These results demonstrate in the context of rhabdoviruses that the CDV F/H complexes can be used to govern cell-entry and syncytia-formation in a receptor-specific manner via scFv display using a receptor of choice to re-direct virus tropism. The use of this system as an oncolytic vector also was assessed in vivo (Figure 8). Athymic nude mice bearing SKOV3ip.1 tumors were treated with a single dose of EGFR- targeted VSV or the VSV-hIFN?-NIS currently undergoing testing in the clinic. Whereas VSV-hIFN?-NIS did not improve survival versus PBS-treated controls, the EGFR- targeted VSV resulted in significantly improve survival (p<0.005). These results demonstrate that the targeted VSVs described herein can be used for oncology purposes. CD38 and EGFR targeted MeV The following was performed to confirm that CD38 and EGFR targeting in the context of MeV can be achieved using CDV F and H polypeptides (Figure 11). To increase safety, further mutations were inserted into the CDV H polypeptide to hamper a potential reversion to the use of natural receptors (Sawatsky et al., J. Virol., 92(15):e0069-18 (2018)). In addition to the R529A amino acid substitution, D526A, I527A, S528A, R529A, Y539A, Y547A, and T548 substitutions also were included (Figure 11A). Figure 11B shows that the introduction of these mutations in the context of CD38-targeted CDV H polypeptide did not influence fusogenicity capacity. Similarly, Figure 11C demonstrates that the different point mutations did not influence the neutralization sensitivity of the polypeptides to measles immune human serum. Although the fusion activity of the CD38-targeted MeV H polypeptide was inhibited by pooled measles antisera up to 1:80 dilution, the homologous CD38-targeted CDV H polypeptide was not at the highest concentration tested of a 1:10 dilution. Similar to the case of Rhabdoviruses, Measles Virus incorporating the targeted CDV H/F complexes could infect and fuse cells in a CD38 or EGFR-specific manner (Figure 11D). This infection- specificity also was observed with an array of tumor cell lines. Skov3pi and U87 cells (EGFR-positive) were infected by EGFR-targeted viruses, but not CD38-targeted viruses. On the contrary, Raji and Ramos cell lines (CD38 positive) were infected exclusively by the CD38-targeted viruses. As a control, cells expressing the 6xHIS pseudo receptor were infected by all retargeted viruses. These results demonstrate that CDV F/H complexes can be used to avoid anti-measles immunity and drive cell-targeted entry and syncytia formation. The in vivo oncolytic activity of CD38 and EGFR-targeted MeV were also investigated. SKOV3ip.1 tumors were implanted either subcutaneously or intraperitoneally into athymic nude mice, followed by virus treatment using the same route (Figure 11E). Although CD38-targeted viruses showed some therapeutic potency, the potency exhibited by the EGFR-targeted viruses was superior (Figure 11F). Conversely, CD38-targeted viruses exhibited no anti-tumor potency after intraperitoneal injection, whereas EGFR-targeted viruses resulted in complete tumor regression as observed by 100% percentage survival. Of note, no differences were observed between MeVs retargeted with either the MeV H/F complexes or CDV H/F. These results demonstrate that CDV H/F complexes can enhance the anti-tumoricidal properties of oncolytic measles virus without the problem of being neutralized by measles-induced neutralizing antibodies. Example 2 – Further Analysis of CD46-specific Oncolytic Measles Viruses Resistant to Neutralization by Measles-Immune Human Serum This example repeats some of the information and results from Example 1 in addition to providing additional results. Heterologous combinations of wild-type CDV glycoproteins result in enhanced cell membrane fusion The MeV coat was replaced with an alternate viral coat that would enable the virus to evade neutralization by anti-measles antibodies. To do this, wild-type CDV was selected. While a strain of CDV approved for vaccine use exists (the Onderstepoort strain), this strain can use a currently unidentified receptor in addition to SLAMF1 and Nectin-4 (Figure 14), which would have made it challenging to modify the viral tropism. Therefore, wild-type strains were focused on as they are known to interact exclusively with SLAM and nectin-4. The following was performed to identify the most fusogenic CDV H/F glycoprotein pair. Different H/F combinations from the 5804P and SPA.Madrid/16 (hereafter named 5804 and SPA, respectively) isolates were transiently expressed in Vero cells expressing either SLAMF1 or NECTIN4 and assessed qualitatively the degree of cellular fusion (syncitia formation) induced by the viral proteins. Fusion activity for the CDV-H/F pairs was not observed when the 135 aa-signal peptide was maintained in CDV-F (Figure 15A). When swapped by the homologous from MeV F, coexpression of H/F proteins from 5804P resulted in cell fusion in SLAMF1- and NECTIN4-expressing cells whereas coexpression of those from SPA promoted cell fusion exclusively in SLAMF1-expressing Vero cells. On the other hand, coexpression of the heterologous combination CDV-H 5804 and CDV-F SPA, but not CDV-H SPA and CDV-F 5804, resulted in syncytia formation in SLAMF1- and NECTIN4-expressing Vero cells. The data summarized above provided evidence in support of a fusion defect on CDV-H SPA. To begin to address whether the lack of fusion of CDV-H SPA on NECTIN4- expressing cells was due to a lower affinity for the receptor, fusion phenotypes were quantitatively compared via nonnatural receptors thus leveling the playing field for receptor binding affinity. This approach was to fuse a His-tagged CD38-specific scFv to the C-terminal domain of the receptor binding proteins and to determine fusion levels in CHO cells encoding either CD38 or the pseudoreceptor for the HIS-tag (CHO-αHIS). A L437M substitution was included into CDV-H SPA since L437 corresponded to a clone- specific mutation not present in any other CDV genetic group (Figure 16). For comparison purposes, retargeted receptor binding proteins from other viruses were additionally included: MeV-H-and Nipah-G (Bender et al., PLoS Pathog., 12(6):e1005641 (2016); and Nakamura et al., Nat. Biotechnol., 22(3):331-6 (2004)). For added rigor to the comparisons, expression of the receptor binding proteins was initially analyzed by western blot and flow cytometric analysis, which demonstrated no significant impact on protein folding or surface expression (Figures 17A and 17B). When the CDV- H/F pairs from SPA proteins were expressed in CHO-C38, only the CDV-H SPA with M437L promoted fusion (Figure 15B). Notably, no significant difference in fusion competence was observed between the two homotypic CDV-H/F pairs from the SPA or 5804P isolates. Surprisingly, the fusion activity triggered by the heterologous H/F combination CDV-H 5804/F SPA surpassed that achieved by the homologous combinations CDV-H/F 5804 and CDV-H/F SPA. For the retargeted Nipah G/F pair, although significant fusion levels were observed in CHO-CD38 cells (p<0.0001), they were insignificant when compared to those obtained by the unretargeted CDV H/F OL pair. Based on this set of experiments, the hyperfusogenic CDV-H 5804/F SPA pair was selected for further investigation and modification. The strength of the CDV H/F interaction inversely correlates with the cell-to-cell fusion efficiency The enhanced cell membrane fusion observed for the CDV-H 5804/F SPA pair might be related to a lower binding avidity at the H/F interface. This was based on the observation that H/F dissociation is essential for the fusion process (Plemper et al., J. Virol., 76(10):5051-61 (2002); and Bradel-Tretheway et al., J. Virol., 93(13) (2019)). In order to test the hypothesis, the relative strengths of association different combinations of CDV-H and F proteins were evaluated by coimmunoprecipitation (co-IP) assays. To facilitate detection, CDV-F SPA was fused to a FLAG-tag, which had no effect on the bioactivity of the protein (Figure 18). The results, presented in Figure 15C, showed that the presence of the M437L mutation in CDV-H SPA weakened its affinity for CDV-F SPA. In addition, the affinity of CDV-F SPA for CDV-H 5804 was slightly lower than that of CDV-F SPA for CDV-H SPA (Figure 15C). Taken together, these data indicate that there is an inverse correlation between fusogenicity levels and the strength of the CDV-H/F interaction. Fully-retargeted CDV envelope glycoproteins display comparable fusion activity to MeV glycoproteins The CDV-H proteins described above could still use NECTIN4 as a receptor (Figure 15A). In order maximize retargeting efficiency, the CDV-H protein needed to be detargeted from this undesirable interaction with human cells. To determine whether the ablation of this natural tropism would affect the cell fusion induced by CDV-H/F binding to a nonnatural receptor, a Y539A mutation was introduced to CDV-H, which corresponds to Y543A in MeV-H, a mutation that was previously shown to abrogate NECTIN4-dependent fusion (Mateo et al., J. Virol., 87(16):9208-16 (2013)) while not affecting cell-surface expression (Sawatsky et al., J. Virol., 86(7):3658-66 (2012)). The fusion proficiency of CDV-H 5804 (Y539A) 5804 / F SPA was then compared with that of a fully retargeted MeV-H/F pair (Nakamura et al., Nat. Biotechnol., 23(2):209-14 (2005)). For this, the quantitative and kinetic fusion assay based on a dual-split GFP/luciferase reporter protein was utilized. The data, presented in Figure 15D, indicate that CD38-targeted CDV-H 5804 (Y539A) had no fusion activity in CHO-NECTIN-4 cells but did induce fusion in CHO-αHIS cells (construct CDV H 5804 (Y539A)/F SPA and CDV H 5804 (Y539A)?CD38/F SPA) and CHO-CD38 cells (CDV H 5804 (Y539A)?CD38/F SPA). Because the fusion activity of the NECTIN-4 blind CDV-H 5804/ F SPA pair was comparable to that obtained with the fully retargeted MeV-H protein, it was concluded that CDV-H 5804 (Y539A) can efficiently retarget the CDV- H/F complex to specific receptors, and this protein was selected for incorporation in the fully retargeted virus. Binding affinity determines efficient retargeting of CDV H/F complexes to CD46 Given that the CDV-H protein selected as described above could be efficiently retargeted to CD38 by fusing a CD38-specific scFv, this protein was next retargeted to CD46 via display of a CD46-specific scFv. It was postulated that the C-terminal display on CDV-H of an scFv that recognized CD46 with sufficiently high binding affinity would result in CD46-mediated cell-to-cell fusion activity similar to that induced by the MeV H/F complex. To test this, an anti-CD46 scFv with high affinity for CD46 was identified by assessing binding to purified CD46 of several different scFv variants isolated from a phage antibody display library (Figure 19). Surface plasmon resonance technology was applied using sensor chips with covalently immobilized anti-Fc antibody. Chimeric Fc- scFv fusion proteins were captured onto the sensor surface which was subsequently interrogated with soluble CD46 comprising SCR1-4 (Figure 20A). Under these assay conditions, the results showed that the affinity constants (Kd) of the chimeric Fc-scFv fusion proteins displaying the A09 and K2 fragments were significantly stronger than those of the K01 and N1E fragments (A09>K2>N1E>K2), primarily due to increased association (A09) or lower dissociation rates (K2) (Table 4, Figure 20B). Table 4. Affinity and kinetic rate constants for single-chain variable fragment binding to CD46. T100 instrument using a 1:1 Langmuir binding model. The following was performed to determine whether fusion of a scFv to the CDV- H protein can support CD46-dependent fusion and if so, how CD46 binding affinity would affect cell fusion. The primary approach was to perform quantitative fusion assays for the detargeted CDV H [5804 (Y539)] and retargeted CDV-H [5804 (Y539)-scFv] /F SPA pairs and to compare them to the unmodified MeV/F complex on CHO cells and CHO cells expressing either NECTIN4 or CD46. All the proteins were expressed at comparable levels (Figure 21). With the exception of scFv K01, all the other anti-CD46 scFvs allowed the CDV-H/F complex to induce cell-to-cell fusion in CHO-CD46 cells (Figure 20C) and in a HeLa cell line with high CD46 expression (Figure 21). Only the MeV-H/F complex induced cell-to-cell fusion in CHO-NECTIN-4 cells. It was conclude from this set of experiments that there exists a binding affinity threshold for CD46-mediated cell-cell fusion through the retargeted CDV H/F complexes and above this threshold there is a positive correlation between binding affinity and intercellular fusion. The CD46-targeted CDV envelope glycoproteins are efficiently incorporated into MeV virions and mediate virus entry in accordance with their binding affinity The following was performed to investigate whether higher receptor affinity translated into higher virus infectivity. To begin to address this question, a panel of isogenic MeVs were generated where the MeV coat was replaced with CDV-F SPA together with CDV-H 5804 (Y539A) displaying low (K1), intermediate (N1E) and high (A09) affinity scFv specific for CD46 (Figure 22A). These “Stealth” viruses were further engineered to express either eGFP or firefly luciferase as reporter genes and were rescued on Vero-αHIS cells. The ability of the Stealth viruses to infect CHO-CD46 cells or the producer cell line (Vero-αHIS) were next assessed. The data, presented in Figure 22B, showed that all three Stealth viruses efficiently induced syncytia formation on Vero-αHIS cells, but only Stealth-A09 formed syncytia on CHO-CD46 cells. Stealth-N1E gave rise to small clusters of unfused GFP-positive CHO-CD46 cells, whereas Stealth-K1 apparently failed to infect them (Figure 22B). When using luciferase as a reporter for infection, CD46-dependent infection with Stealth-K1 was detected, but the luciferase levels were significantly lower than those obtained when cells were infected with Stealth- A09 (Figures 22C and 23), indicating that binding to CD46 determines the efficiency of virus entry. Based on its superior CD46-dependent virus entry, Stealth-A09 (this virus was referred to as Stealth 2.0 in Example 1) was selected for further characterization. Stealth- A09 replicated in Vero-αHIS cells but not in the parental Vero cell line, indicating efficient virus replication through the HIS-pseudo receptor and a lack of interaction with CD46 from African green monkey (Figure 22D). To estimate the relative particle-to- infectivity ratio of the Stealth-A09 in relation to the original MeV, western blot analysis was performed on virus preparations to detect the major structural protein (N), and no significant differences in expression levels were observed (Figure 22E). Since equivalent numbers of virus particles were analyzed, the data suggest similar particle-to-plaque- forming unit (PFU) ratios for the two viruses, indicative of efficient incorporation into the virions of the foreign envelope. The receptor-specific tropism of the viruses was next fully examined by infecting a panel of CHO cells stably expressing ?HIS, CD46, NECTIN-4, or either human or canine SLAMF1. The results, presented in Figure 22F, showed that MeV infected CHO cells expressing the receptors CD46 and NECTIN-4 and either canine or human SLAMF1, whereas Stealth-A09 only infected CHO-αHIS, CHO- CD46, and CHO-dogSLAM cells, indicating that Stealth-A09 is efficiently retargeted against human CD46. In keeping with a recent report showing that CDV-H does not bind human SLAMF1 (Fukuhara et al., Viruses, 11(8) (2019)), entry of MeV-Stealth-A09 into CHO- hSLAMF1 was not observed (Figure 22F). However, adaptation to human SLAMF1 via a different CDV strain has been observed (Bieringer et al., PLoS One, 8(3):e57488 (2013)). Therefore, to assess the likelihood of MeV-Stealth adapting to human SLAMF1, the virus was passaged consecutively in Vero-hSLAMF1 cells, and viral tropism was analyzed. The infected cells were blind-passaged eight times at 5-day intervals before testing the tropism. This number of passages has been previously shown to suffice to induce cyclical adaptation of measles virus quasispecies (Donohue et al., PLoS Pathog., 15(2):e1007605 (2019)). As shown in Figure 22G, at the end of this selective pressure, MeV-Stealth-A09 was still able to induce syncytia formation only in Vero-dogSLAMF1 cells, not in Vero or Vero-hSLAMF1 cells, where only discrete GPF-positive cells were observed. Thus, the data argue against a potential adaptation to allow use of the pathogenic human SLAMF1 receptor. Collectively, these results indicate that the MeV H/F glycoproteins can be exchanged with the CD46-retargeted CDV-H/F glycoproteins and that cell entry is dependent on receptor affinity. MeV-Stealth oncolytic activity is dependent on its CD46 binding affinity The following was performed to determine the antitumor potential of Stealth viruses and the role of CD46 binding affinity in vivo. For this, athymic mice bearing peritoneally disseminated SKOV3ip.1 tumors expressing the firefly luciferase gene (SKOV3ip.Fluc) were treated with a single intraperitoneal dose of saline or 10 6 TCID50 of Stealth-N1E and Stealth-A09 (n=5). Tumor burden was then monitored using in vivo bioluminescence imaging (Figure 24A). By day 7, a comparable reduction in tumor burden was observed in animals that received either Stealth-N1E or Stealth-A09 when compared with the control group (Figure 24B). However, the statistical significance in the reduction of tumor burden was lost for the Stealth-N1E group by day 21, whilst this was not the case for the Stealth-A09 group. Comparison of survival curves showed that only MeV Stealth-A09 increased mouse survival compared to the control group. Thus, Stealth-A09 shows oncolytic potency that appears dependent on its higher CD46 affinity. MeV-Stealth achieves oncolysis and prolongs survival of myeloma and ovarian tumor- bearing mice The following was performed to assess the utility of MeV-Stealth-A09 over MeV as an oncolytic agent. For this, we initially left untreated (PBS-treated group) or treated severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) mice bearing subcutaneous human myeloma xenografts (derived from U266.B1 cells) with a suboptimal intravenous dose of MeV- Stealth or MeV. The tumors in the PBS-treated group continued to grow exponentially, and all mice had to be sacrificed because of the tumor burden by day 12 (Figure 25A). Treatment with either MeV or MeV-Stealth-A09 slowed tumor progression, resulting in a significantly increased median survival time of 7 and 5 days, respectively (Figure 25B). In order to assess whether the oncolytic effect was due to virus replication, histological analysis of explanted tumors was performed. The results, presented in Figure 25C, strongly indicated that both viruses were able to home to tumor tissue. These results strongly suggested that CD46-targeted Stealth induces oncolysis at similar levels compared to MeV, which targets both CD46 and SLAMF1, thereby inducing tumor regression in this multiple myeloma model. Next, the therapeutic effect of MeV-Stealth-A09 in prolonging survival in the presence of measles-immune serum was evaluated. Before embarking on this in vivo study, the neutralization sensitivity of recombinant viruses was first evaluated in vitro. The results, presented in Figure 26, showed that MeV-Stealth-A09 was insensitive to the neutralizing activity of measles-immune human serum, whereas it was completely neutralized by CDV-immune ferret or mouse serum. The opposite pattern was observed essentially for MeV (Figure 23). SKOV3ip.Fluc cells were then implanted into the peritoneal cavities of athymic nude mice, which received either PBS or measles-immune human serum prior to a single intraperitoneal injection of MeV or MeV-Stealth (Figure 27A). Animals that did not receive any virus injection as well as those treated with MeV in the presence of immune serum exhibited high bioluminescence activity that continued to increase over time (Figure 27B), indicating that MeV could not exert oncolysis in the presence of pre-existent immunity. On the contrary, Kaplan-Meier survival curves indicated that, in the absence of immune serum, both oncolytic virus (OV) treatments significantly prolonged mouse survival, with a median survival times of 37 days for the MeV-treated mice and 53 days for the Stealth-treated mice versus a median survival time of 18 days for the control mice (Figure 27C). However, prolonged survival following MeV treatment was completely abrogated when mice received measles-immune serum, whereas MeV-Stealth treatment was still able to significantly prolong survival (median survival time of 28 days) with no statistical difference over treatment in the absence of immune serum. These results demonstrate that CD46 targeting drives oncolyis in both a xenograft myeloma model and an orthotropic model of ovarian cancer, and that exchange of the MeV coat by the homologous CDV-H/F fusion apparatus shields MeV from MeV- immune human serum. Methods and materials Cell lines Baby hamster kidney cells (BHK, Cat. # CCL-10, ATCC, Manassas, VA, USA), Human kidney epithelial cells (HEK293T) obtained from Dr. François-Loïc Cosset (Université de Lyon), and the human ovarian cancer cell line SKOV3ip.1-Fluc (Mader et al., Clin. Cancer Res., 15(23):7246-55 (2009)) were maintained in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM; Cat. # SH30022.01, GE Healthcare Life, Pittsburg, PA, USA) supplemented with 5% fetal bovine serum (FBS; Cat. #10437-028; Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA). Vero African green monkey kidney cells (Vero, ATCC, Cat. # CCL-81) and their derivatives (expressing human NECTIN-4 (Noyce et al., Virology, 436(1):210-20 (2013)), human SLAMF1 (Ono et al., J. Virol., 75(9):4399-401 (2001)) or a membrane-anchored single-chain variable fragment (scFv) specific for a hexahistidine peptide (6× HIS-tag) (Nakamura et al., Nat. Biotechnol., 23(2):209-14 (2005)) were cultured in DMEM (Cat. # SH30022.01, GE Healthcare Life Sciences) as described elsewhere (Munoz-Alia et al., Viruses, 11(8) (2019)). Vero cells constitutively expressing the canine SLAMF1 molecule (Vero-dogSLAMF1) were generated by transduction and puromycin selection of a second-generation lentiviral vector (kindly provided by Dr. Lukkana Suksanpaisan [Imanis Life Science, Rochester, MN, USA]) encoding, under the control of the spleen focus-forming virus promoter, a codon- optimized SLAMF1 molecule from Canis lupus familiaris (GenBank NP_001003084.1) with an N-terminal FLAG-tag sequence (DYKDDDD). Cells were maintained in DMEM supplemented with 5% FBS. The Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell line, CHO-CD46 cells, CHO-hSLAMF1 cells, CHO-dogSLAMF1 cells, CHO-NECTIN4 cells, CHO-αHIS cells, CHO-CD38 cells and the human myeloma cell line U266.B1 (kindly provided to us by Dr. David Dingli [Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN]) were grown in RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with 10% FBS. Cells were incubated at 37 °C in 5% CO 2 with saturating humidity. Plasmids and construction of full-genome recombinant measles virus (MeV) To generate canine distemper virus (CDV) SPA.Madrid/22458/16 expression plasmids, total RNA was extracted from CDV SPA.Madrid/22458/16 isolate–infected Vero/dog SLAMF1 cells (passage 1) using the RNeasy Mini Kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany). Both the CDV-hemagglutinin (H) and CDV-fusion (F) genes were reverse transcribed with SuperScript III Reverse Transcriptase (Cat. # 11752050, Thermo Fisher Scientific) and amplified by PCR with the following primers: CDVH7050(+): 5’- AGAAAACTTAGGGCTCAGGTAGTCC;-3’ CDVH8949(-): 5’- TCGTCTGTAAGGGATTTCTCACC-3’; CDVF4857(+): 5’- AGGACATAGCAAGCCAACAGG-3’ and CDVH7050(-): 5’- GGACTACCTGAGCCCTAAGTTTTCT-3’. PCR products were sequenced directly by Sanger sequencing (Genewiz, Plainfield NJ, USA) and cloned into the pJET1.2 vector (Thermo Fisher Scientific). Next, the CDV-H open reading frame was PCR amplified with a forward primer (5’-CCG GTA GTT AAT TAA AAC TTA GGG TGC AAG ATC ATC GAT AAT GCT CTC CTA CCA AGA TAA GGT G-3’) and a reverse primer (5’- CTA TTT CAC ACT AGT GGG TAT GCC TGA TGT CTG GGT GAC ATC ATG TGA TTG GTT CAC TAG CAG CCT CAA GGT TTT GAA CGG TTA CAG GAG-3’) and cloned into a PacI and SpeI-restricted (New England Biolabs, Ipswich, MA, USA) pCG vector (Cathomen et al., J. Virol., 72(2):1224-34 (1998)) using an InFusion HD kit (Takara, Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan). The primers contained the PacI and SpeI restriction sites (underlined) as well as the coding sequence for the untranslated region of MeV-H (italics). Similarly, the CDV-F open reading frame (amino acid residues 136-662) was cloned into the HpaI/SpeI-restricted pCG-CDV-F plasmid (von Messling et al., J. Virol., 75(14):6418-27 (2001)). The resulting plasmid pCG-CDV-F SPA.Madrid/22458/16 contained coding sequences for the MeV-F untranslated region and signal peptide. Expression plasmids for the CDV-H/F Onderstepoort vaccine and 5804P isolate (von Messling et al., J. Virol., 75(14):6418-27 (2001)), as well as MeV Nse strain, were described elsewhere (Cathomen et al., J. Virol., 72(2):1224-34 (1998)). The signal peptide for CDV-F 5804 was replaced with heterologous MeV-F as described above for CDV-F SPA.Madrid/22458/16. The open reading frames of the Nipah-G and Nipah-F glycoprotein genes were amplified from purchased RNA templates (Cat. # NR-37391, BEI Resources), and the Nipah-F gene (GenBank AF212302.2) was inserted into the pCG vector using the NarI and PacI sites. Retargeted versions of the H/G proteins were generated by inserting the homologous PacI/SfiI-digested PCR product into pCGHX ?- CD38 (Peng et al., Blood, 101(7):2557-62 (2003)). Insertion of the coding sequence for an scFv recognizing CD46 was performed by exchanging the anti-CD38 scFv via the SfiI and NotI restriction sites. Site-directed mutagenesis (QuickChange Site-Directed Mutagenesis Kit, Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara CA, USA) was used to ablate the tropism of H and remove the SpeI site in CDV-F. The viruses used in this example were derived from the molecular cDNA clone of the Moraten/Schwart vaccine strain pB(+)MVvac2(ATU)P, with an additional transcriptional unit downstream of the phosphoprotein gene (Cathomen et al., J. Virol., 72(2):1224-34 (1998); and Munoz-Alia et al., Viruses, 11(8) (2019)). To avoid plasmid instability upon propagation in bacteria and increase virus rescue efficiency, the plasmid backbone was replaced with the pSMART LCkan vector (Cat. # 40821-1; Lucigen, Middleton, WI, USA), with an optimized T7 promoter followed by a self-cleaving hammerhead ribozyme (Hrbz) (Beaty et al., mSphere, 2(2) (2017); and Munoz-Alia et al., Viruses, 11(8) (2019)). eGFP or firefly luciferase were cloned into the infectious clone by using the unique MluI/AatII restriction sites. Rescue of rMeVs was carried out employing the START system (Nakamura et al., Nat. Biotechnol., 23(2):209-14 (2005)). Expression of recombinant proteins A plasmid encoding the CD46-Fc fusion protein was produced by fusing the CD46 ectodomain (residues 35-328) with the Fc domain of IgG1 (pfc1-hg1e3; InvivoGen, San Diego, CA, USA). The scFvs K1, K2, and A09 were designed with the VL and VH sequences separated by a GSSGGSSSG flexible linker, codon-optimized, synthesized and cloned into pUC57-Kan (GenScript). A fourth scFv (N1E) was designed with the VH and VL sequences separated by an SSGGGGS linker, codon-optimized, synthesized by Creative Biolabs (Shirley, NY) and cloned into pCDNA3.1+ (Invitrogen). For the IgG constructs, scFvs were cloned into the unique AgeI and KpnI sites of pHL- FcHIS (Cat.# 99846, Addgene, Cambridge, MA, USA), harboring the coding sequence for a secretion signal and a C-terminal human Fc region followed by a 6× HIS-tag. The recombinant proteins were expressed by transfecting Expi293F suspension cells (Thermo Fisher) in serum-free Expi293 expression medium (Thermo Fisher) in shaker flasks following the manufacturer’s instructions. The culture supernatants containing the recombinant proteins were collected and passed through a Protein G chromatography cartridge (Cat.# 89926, ThermoFisher). Bound recombinant proteins were eluted with 0.1 M glycine (pH 2.0), followed by immediate neutralization with 1 M Tris (pH 8.0), and the isolated proteins were concentrated with an Amicon Ultra centrifugal concentrator (Millipore Sigma, Burlington, MA, USA). CD46 and NECTIN4 were released from the Fc region by incubation with HRV 3C Protease (Thermo Fisher) at a 1:200 ratio. A final purification step was performed using a Superdex 7510/300 gel filtration column (GE Healthcare) equilibrated in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). Protein concentrations were calculated from the protein extinction coefficient as determined from the amino acid composition. Fusion assays Cells were transfected using Fugene HD (PROMEGA, Fitchburg WI, USA) or TransIT-LT1 transfection reagent (Mirus Bio LLC, Madison WI, USA). For a quantitative fusion assay, a dual-split reporter system (Kondo et al., J. Biol. Chem., 285(19):14681-8 (2010); and Ishikawa et al., Protein Eng. Des. Sel., 25(12):813-20 (2012)) was used as described elsewhere (Munoz-Alia et al., Viruses, 11(8) (2019)), using BHK cells as the effector cells. For semiquantitative assessment of fusion, Vero cells and derivative cell lines were transfected with a total of 0.1 ?g of DNA (1:1 ratio of H and F expression plasmids), including a GFP expression plasmid for added visualization of syncitia formation. Images were obtained with a microscope (Eclipse Ti-S; Nikon) at 40× or 100x magnification. Expression analysis of Morbillivirus attachment proteins For assessment of the level of the H polypeptide, transfected cells were analyzed by flow cytometry or cellular enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (CELISA) using an anti-6× HIS-tag monoclonal antibody (Cat. # 130-120-787, Miltenyi Biotec or Cat. # MA1-135, Thermo Fisher Scientific), as described elsewhere (Munoz-Alia et al., Viruses, 11(8) (2019); and Saw et al., Methods, 90:68-75 (2015)). For analysis of total protein expression by flow cytometry (FACSCanbt, BD Biosciences, San Jose, CA, USA), cells were treated with the eBioscience Intracellular Fixation & Permeabilization buffer (Cat. # 88-8823-88, Thermo Fisher Scientific). Envelope glycoprotein coimmunoprecipitation (co-IP) Three micrograms (1 ?g of H and 2 ?g of F) of total DNA were transfected into HEK293T cells (4e5 cells). After 24 hours, the cells were washed twice with PBS and treated with the cross-linker 3-3’-diothiobis (sulfosuccinimidyl propionate) (DTSSP; Cat. # 21578, Thermo Fisher Scientific) at 1 mM, followed by quenching with 20 mM Tris/HCl ( pH 7.4) and lysis with 0.4 mL of M-PER mammalian protein extraction reagent (Thermo Fisher Scientific) containing a 1× Halt protease and phosphatase inhibitor cocktail (Cat. # 1861281, Thermo Fisher Scientific). Soluble fractions were collected after centrifugation at 10,000 x g for 10 minutes at 4 °C, and one-thirtieth of the volume was set aside as the cell lysate input. The rest was incubated with 0.5 ?g of anti- FLAG monoclonal antibody M2 (Sigma-Aldrich) and EZview red protein G affinity gel (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA). The precipitated material was washed (20 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.4, 140 mM sodium chloride) and denatured by boiling in laemmli buffer containing ?-mercaptoethanol. SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting Samples were fractioned by gel electrophoresis on a 4 to 12% NuPAGE Bis-tris gel (Thermo Fisher) and transferred to polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) membranes using an iBLOT 2 dry blotting system (Cat. # IB21001, Thermo Fisher Scientific). The protein material was detected though incubation with the antibodies anti-MeV-H606 (Hudacek et al., Cancer Gene Therapy, 20(2):109-16 (2013)), anti-MeV-F431 (von Messling et al., J. Virol., 78(15):7894-903 (2004)), anti-Fcyt (von Messling et al., J. Virol., 75(14):6418-27 (2001)), anti-MeV-N (Toth et al., J. Virol., 83(2):961-8 (2009)), anti-HIS (Cat. # A01857-40, GenScript, Piscataway NJ, USA), anti-β-actin (Cat. # A3854, Sigma-Aldrich), and anti-CD46 (Cat.# sc-7056, Santa Cruz, Dallas TX, USA). Immunoblots were visualized using a rabbit horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-conjugated secondary antibody and KwikQuant Imager (Kindle Bioscience LLC, Greenwich CT, USA). Representative results of two independent repeats are shown. Band quantification was carried out using the KwikQuant Image Analyzer 1.4. (Cat. # D1016, Kindle Biosciences, LLC) Antibody binding assay An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to measure the binding of scFvs to CD46. Nunc-Immuno MicroWell 96-well solid plates were coated overnight at 4 °C with 1 µg of purified CD46 or N4 in 0.05 M carbonate-bicarbonate buffer, pH 9.6. (Cat. # E107, Bethyl Laboratories, Montgomery TX, USA). Purified scFv-Fc fusion proteins were then diluted in PBS and added at a concentration of 12.5 µg/mL. Bound antibodies were detected with a secondary anti-human IgG (Fc-specific) HRP-conjugated antibody (1:70,000; Cat. # A0170, Sigma-Aldrich). In parallel, 125 ng of scFv-Fc fusion protein was first bound to wells, and protein levels were monitored by measuring the optical density (OD490 nm) after incubation with the secondary antibody alone. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) The interaction between the scFv A09, 2B10, K1, K2, and CD46 was measured using series S CM5 sensor chips on a Biacore T-100 system (GE Healthcare, Waukesha, WI, USA). For A09, N1E, K1, and K2, 50 µg/mL of an anti-FC antibody (MAB1302, EMD Millipore, Burlington, MA, USA) diluted into 10 mM NaAcetate, pH 4.5, were immobilized to the active and the reference channel of the CM5 chip using amine coupling kit reagents (EDC (1-ethyl-3-[3-dimethylaminopropyl]carbodiimide), NHS (N- hydroxysuccinimide) and ethanolamine). The immobilization of the antibody resulted in ~12000 response units. The interactions between CD46 and the anti-FC antibody captured scFv were measured at 25 °C with a data rate of 10 Hz using HBS EP buffer (0.01 M HEPES pH 7.4, 0.15 M NaCl, 3 mM EDTA, 0.005% v/v Surfactant P20). Each binding cycle began with the loading of 15 µg/mL of the scFv onto the active channel for 300 s at a flow rate of 10 µL/min. After 100 s of buffer wash and a 120 s stabilization period, CD46 (concentration range 50 nM- 1000 nM for A09, 37.5 nM-100 nM for K2 and 50- 1000 nM for N1E and K1) was flown over the active and the reference channel for 100 s at a flow rate of 40 µL/min. The association phase was followed by a 200 s dissociation period followed by a 60 s injection of 10 mM Glycine pH 2.0 at a flow rate of 30 µL/min, to regenerate the surface immobilized anti-FC antibody. All sensograms were fitted with a 1:1 binding model using the Biacore T100 evaluation software v2.04. Infections and virus growth kinetic analysis For virus infections, cells were infected at the indicated MOIs for 90 min at 37°C in Opti-MEM I reduced-serum medium. After the absorption phase, we removed the inoculum, washed, and added viral growth media (DMEM+5% FBS). When using eGFP- expressing viruses, fluorescence microscopy photographs were taken 48 hours post- infection. For infections with Fluc-expressing viruses, luciferase expression was measured using an Infinite M200 Pro multimode microplate reader (Tecan Trading AG) after adding 0.5mM of D-Luciferin to the infected cells. For virus growth kinetic analysis, Vero cells and derivative cell lines seeded in 6- well plates 16-18 hours prior to infection were infected at a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 0.03 for 90 min in Opti-MEM (Cat. # 31985070, Thermo Fisher Scientific). The inoculum was then removed, and the cell monolayers were washed three times with Dulbecco’s phosphate-buffered saline (DPBS; Cat. # MT-21-031-CVRF, Mediatech, Inc., Manassas, VA, USA), and the medium was replaced with 1 mL of DMEM supplemented with 5% FBS. At the indicated time points, cell supernatants were collected, and cells were scraped into 1 mL of Opti-MEM, followed by 3 freeze/thaw cycles. Cell debris was removed by centrifugation (2,000 x g for 5 min), and virus titers were determined in Vero-αHIS cells. Immunization studies Four to six-week-old male and female HuCD46Ge-IFNARKO mice (Mrkic et al., J. Virol., 74(3):1364-72 (2000)), deficient for type I IFN receptor and transgenically expressing human CD46, were inoculated intraperitoneally (i.p.) with 1x10 5 TCID 50 particles of MeV or Stealth-A09. On day 28, serum samples were collected and stored at -20 °C until assessed for neutralizing antibodies. Neutralization assays A fluorescence-based plaque reduction microneutralization (PRMN) assay was carried out as described elsewhere (Munoz-Alia et al., J. Virol., 91(11) (2017)). Briefly, Vero-αHIS cells were seeded in a 96-well plate, and serial dilutions of serum samples were premixed for 1 hour at 37 °C with virus inoculum before they were added to the cells. The data were plotted as the log(dilution of serum) vs. the normalized response (variable slope) present with GraphPad software (Prism 8), and the neutralization dose 50% was calculated (ND50). Inclusion of the 3rd World Health Organization International serum standard (3IU/mL) enabled conversion of antibody titers to mIU/mL by calculation of the unitage constant (Haralambieva et al., Vaccine, 29(27):4485-91 (2011)). Pooled human serum from 60-80 donors that had blood type AB (Cat. # HS1017; Lot # C80553, Valley Biomedical Inc., Winchester, VA, USA) was used. The following reagents were obtained from the NIH Defense and Emerging Infections Research Resources Repository, NIAID, NIH: polyclonal anti-MeV antibody, Edmonston, (antiserum, Guinea Pig), NR-4024 and polyclonal anti-CDV Lederle Avirulent (antiserum, Ferret), NR-4025. A lack of cross-neutralization between measles virus and Stealth was assessed (Figures 28A-B). Experimental oncolytic therapy To establish subcutaneous tumors, 6-week-old female severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) mice were injected in the right flank with 1 x 10 7 U266.B1 tumor cells. When the tumor reached 0.5 cm in diameter, mice received a single intravenous dose of MeV (n=5) or Stealth (n=5) at 1 x10550% tissue culture infectious dose (TCID 50 ). Control mice (n=5) were injected with an equal volume of PBS. Animals were euthanized when the tumors ulcerated or when the burden reached 20% of the body weight. Tumor diameter was measured every other day, and tumor volume was calculated with the formula length x length x width x 0.5. To establish an orthotopic model of ovarian cancer, 5x 10 6 SKOV3ip.1 cells expressing firefly luciferase (SKOV3ip.1-Fluc) were injected into the peritoneal cavity of athymic nude mice. Ten days later, the animals received 600 mIU of measles-immune serum (Cat. # HS1017; Lot # C80553, Valley Biomedical Inc.) or an equal volume of saline, and three hours later, they were treated with a single intraperitoneal dose (1x 10 6 TCID50) of MeV (n=5) or Stealth (n=5). The mice in the control group received a similar volume of Vero cell lysates (n=5). For the therapy experiment, 5x10 6 SKOV3ip.1-Fluc cells were implanted instead. The tumor burden was monitored weekly through in vivo bioluminescence imaging using an IVIS Spectrum instrument (Perking Elmer, Waltham, MA, USA). The mice were euthanized at the end of the study (80 days), when they developed ascites or had lost 20% of their body weight. Statistical comparisons among groups were performed with the log-rank (Mantel-Cox) test, and p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Statistical analysis Statistical analyses were performed with GraphPad Prism 8.3.1 version for Mac OS X. Significant differences among groups were determined using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Holm-Sidak’s multiple comparison test. Survival data were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method, and the log-rank test was used to identify significant differences among groups.
OTHER EMBODIMENTS It is to be understood that while the invention has been described in conjunction with the detailed description thereof, the foregoing description is intended to illustrate and not limit the scope of the invention, which is defined by the scope of the appended claims. Other aspects, advantages, and modifications are within the scope of the following claims.
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