Adenovirus-p53 gene therapy in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma xenografts.

BACKGROUND: One major challenge to human cancer gene therapy, is efficient delivery of the gene-vector complex. METHODS AND RESULTS: Using two distinct human nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) models, we demonstrate that intra-tumoural (IT) administration of adenoviral-mediated wild-type p53 gene therapy (Ad-p53) caused no greater inhibition of tumour growth as compared to ionizing radiation (XRT) alone. Detailed histologic examination of tumour sections demonstrated that <15% of tumour cells were transduced by IT adv-beta-gal. CONCLUSIONS: This report underscores the importance of developing gene transfer vectors, which can provide therapeutic levels of transgene expression efficiently in solid tumours.