RESUMEN
Great expectations are set on gene therapy for the treatment of malignant hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) in East Asia. Recombinant adenoviral vectors (AV) have been developed in which the L-plastin promoter (LP) regulates the expression of transgenes, in a tumor cell specific manner, resulting in an increase in the therapeutic index. The development of the AdLPCD vector, a replication-incompetent AV, containing a transcription unit of LP and E. coli cytosine deaminase (CD), was reported in our previous work. In the present study, the AdLPCD vector combined with 5-fluorocytosine (5-FC) administration was tested to see if it might have significant utility in the chemosensitization of L-plastin positive HCC. Four HCC cell lines (HepG2, Chang Liver, Huh-7 and SK-Hep-1 cells) were investigated for the expression of LacZ after infecting the cells with the AdLPLacZ vector containing a 2.4 kb fragment of LP and the LacZ gene. Relatively high levels of LP activity were detected in HepG2, followed by Chang Liver cells; whereas, no promoter activity was found in Huh-7 and SK-Hep-1 cells, as determined by AdLPLacZ infection followed by the beta-galactosidase assay. In addition, the results of RT-PCR assays for the detection of endogenous L-plastin mRNA in these cells lines correlated well with those of the beta-galactosidase activity after infection with AdLPLacZ. Based on these data, the cytotoxic effect of AdLPCD/5-FC was evaluated in HepG2 cells. These results indicate that the CD gene delivered by AV could sensitize HepG2 cells to the prodrug, 5-FC. However, the observed effects were insufficient to cause the death of most of cells. This suggests that the screening of patients for an AdLP/5-FC strategy based on AdLPLacZ data might not always guarantee a good therapeutic outcome.