title: Gene therapy for endometrial carcinoma with the herpes simplex thymidine kinase gene.
abstract: We investigated whether retrovirus-mediated transfer of the herpes simplex thymidine kinase gene into a human endometrial carcinoma (EC4) cell line can sensitize these cells to the prodrug ganciclovir (GCV) and thereby provide a therapeutic option for this cancer. A retrovirus encoding for the herpes simplex virus tip-1 (HSV) thymidine kinase (tk) gene was generated in which expression of tk is under control of the myeloproliferative sarcoma virus (MPSV) promoter/enhancer. We used human mutated dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) cDNA as a selectable marker. Expression of tk was confirmed by Northern blot analysis and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. We demonstrated that the combination of retrovirally mediated tk gene transfer and GCV treatment effectively inhibits proliferation and causes death of EC4 cells in vitro. A bystander killing effect was observed when 90% of uninfected tumor cells were mixed with only 10% of HSVtk-infected cells. We suggest that a gene therapy approach to endometrial carcinoma can be established using retroviral transfer of HSVtk to tumor cells and subsequent administration of GCV.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Gulhane Military Medical Academy, Etlik, Ankara, 06010, Turkey. aural@gata.edu.tr
authors.forename: A U
authors.initials: AU
authors.lastname: Ural
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Takebe
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Adhikari
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ercikan-Abali
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Banerjee
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Barakat
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Bertino
mesh_terms: D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004354:Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D015774:Ganciclovir / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D005814:Genes, Viral; D015316:Genetic Therapy; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D006561:Herpes Simplex / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D011355:Prodrugs / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D012190:Retroviridae; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013937:Thymidine Kinase / Q000235:genetics*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D011355:Prodrugs; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D013937:Thymidine Kinase; D015774:Ganciclovir