title: Adenovirus-mediated TNF-alpha gene transfer induces significant tumor regression in mice.
abstract: Recombinant adenovirus vectors are highly efficient at in vitro and in vivo gene delivery. The in vitro infection of a mouse colon adenocarcinoma cell line MCA-26 with the adenovirus AdV-LacZ can reach a maximal 75% of infectivity at an MOI of 1000. Intratumoral injection of AdV-LacZ (2X10(9) pfu) resulted in substantial gene transfer in nearly 70% of MCA-26 tumors. After the in vitro infection of AdV-TNF-alpha, infected MCA-26 cells showed significant secretion of TNF-alpha (45 ng/ml/10(6) cells) in tissue culture. The secretion peaks at day 2 and is diminished at day 4 following the viral infection. Infected MCA-26 tumor cells secreting TNF-alpha significantly reduced their tumorigenicity in syngeneic BALB/c mice. In mice bearing small tumors, intratumoral injection of 2X10(9) pfu of AdV-TNF-alpha virus with a repeated booster treatment resulted in complete regression of three tumors and significant diminution of the other two with a mean tumor-weight of 0.16 g; this is in contrast to 0.85 and 1.62 g for tumors injected with the control AdV-pLpA and PBS respectively (p < 0.01). Mice with complete tumor regression further developed protective immunity against the second challenge of MCA-26 inoculation. In mice bearing large tumors, this treatment also caused significant inhibition of tumor growth with a mean tumor weight of 0.65 g vis-a-vis 3.05 g for tumors injected with the control AdV-pLpA. On the contrary, in mice bearing large tumors, the treatment of tumors with pCI-TNF-alpha delivered by the gene gun did not induce significant tumor inhibition. These results indicate that the adenoviral delivery of TNF-alpha gene is more efficient than the particle-mediated gene gun device, and that adenovirus-mediated cytokine gene therapy may be a useful approach in the clinical management of human solid tumors.
authors.affiliation: Saskatoon Cancer Center, Department of Microbiology, University of Saskatchewan, Canada.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Braun
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Babiuk
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Littel-van den Hurk
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Moyana
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xiang
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D000260:Adenoviruses, Human / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D019470:Biolistics; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D018450:Disease Progression; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D015316:Genetic Therapy; D005822:Genetic Vectors / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000235:genetics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015552:Injections, Intralesional; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha