title: Therapeutic efficacy of an hTERT promoter-driven oncolytic adenovirus             that expresses apoptin in gastric carcinoma.
abstract: The efficacy and specificity of treatment are the major challenges for cancer gene therapy. Oncolytic virotherapy is an attractive drug delivery platform of cancer gene therapy. Previous studies have determined that apoptin is a p53-independent, Bcl-2-insensitive apoptotic protein that has the ability to induce apoptosis specifically in tumor cells. In this study, we show that the administration of a dual cancer-specific oncolytic adenovirus construct, Ad-hTERT-E1a-apoptin [in which the adenovirus early region 1a (E1a) gene is driven by the cancer-specific promoter of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) and that expresses apoptin simultaneously], suppresses tumor growth in gastric carcinoma cells in vitro and reduces the tumor burden in vivo in xenografted nude mice. The observation that infection with the Ad-hTERT-E1a-apoptin construct significantly inhibited the growth of gastric cancer cells and protected normal human gastric epithelium from growth inhibition confirmed the induction of cancer cell-selective adenovirus replication, growth inhibition and apoptosis by this therapeutic approach. In vivo assays were performed using BALB/c nude mice that had established primary tumors. Subcutaneous primary tumor volume was reduced not only in the intratumoral injection group but also in the systemic delivery mice following treatment with Ad-hTERT-E1a-apoptin. Furthermore, treatment of primary models with Ad-hTERT-E1a-apoptin increased the mouse survival time. These data reinforce previous research and highlight the potential therapeutic application of Ad-hTERT-E1a-apoptin for the treatment of neoplastic diseases in clinical trials.
authors: Department of Gastroenterology, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130021, PR China.
authors: Lei
authors: L
authors: Liu
authors: Wenbin
authors: W
authors: Wu
authors: Guangze
authors: G
authors: Zhu
authors: Liming
authors: L
authors: Liu
authors: Guofang
authors: G
authors: Guan
authors: Xiao
authors: X
authors: Li
authors: Ningyi
authors: N
authors: Jin
authors: Baorong
authors: B
authors: Chi
mesh_terms: D000256:Adenoviridae / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D036022:Capsid Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D002460:Cell Line; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D017727:Chicken anemia virus / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005753:Gastric Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism; D015316:Genetic Therapy; D005822:Genetic Vectors / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000235:genetics / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D015552:Injections, Intralesional; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008819:Mice, Nude; D050130:Oncolytic Virotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D013270:Stomach / Q000166:cytology / Q000473:pathology; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D019098:Telomerase / Q000235:genetics*; D023041:Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays
chemical_list: D036022:Capsid Proteins; C091717:VP3 protein, Chicken anemia virus; C509186:TERT protein, human; D019098:Telomerase