title: Human serum albumin-mediated apoptin delivery suppresses breast cancer cell growthin vitroandin vivo.
abstract: Gene therapy is one of the most promising potential therapeutic strategies for many types of cancer. Cell apoptosis is an active, programmed physiological process of the body, and its disruption has been closely associated with the occurrence of tumor development. Apoptin is known to induce tumor cell apoptosis. In the present study, the MCF-7 breast cancer cell line was transfected with a human serum albumin (HSA) and apoptin expressing plasmid [HSA-polyethylenimine (PEI)-pcDNA-Apoptin]. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blotting were performed to detect the expression of apoptin in the transfected MCF-7 cells, while MTT assays and flow cytometry were conducted to detect cell viability and apoptosis. Furthermore, hematoxylin and eosin staining was used to observe the morphology of xenografts from mice injected with MCF-7 cells. It was demonstrated that the HSA-PEI-pcDNA-Apoptin expression plasmid resulted in the upregulation of apoptin in MCF-7 cells, and efficiently suppressed breast tumor growthin vivo. These findings indicated that the use of HSA as an apoptin expression vector has potential therapeutic benefits for cancer and confirms the requirement for the further evaluation of apoptin in clinical trials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Shaanxi Provincial Tumor Hospital, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yizhi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging, Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710068, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710068, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Fuxi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shangke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xinhan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhao
keywords: antitumor effects; apoptin; breast cancer; gene therapy; human serum albumin