Actions of HSVtk and connexin43 gene delivery on gap junctional communication and drug sensitization in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Abstract

We have previously demonstrated that transfected hepatocellular carcinoma cells (Hepa1-6) with one copy (pAGO) and two copies (pYED) of the HSVtk gene, using liposomes, induced cell death of untransfected cells in the presence of ganciclovir (GCV). This phenomenon is called the 'bystander effect'. To determine whether an elevated level of connexin43 increases the bystander effect, we have cotransfected Hepa1-6 cells with a plasmid containing the HSVtk gene driven by the alpha-fetoprotein promoter (pFTK) or pAGO or pYED and connexin43. The results showed that, after GCV treatment, the percentage of growth inhibition was higher (25-30%) in cells cotransfected with HSVtk and connexin43 than in cells transfected only with HSVtk gene. The IC50 of GCV on cells transfected with pFTK/Connexin43 was 17.85-fold lower than cells transfected with pFTK alone. To improve these results, stable connexin43 transduced Hepa1-6 cells were transfected with pFTK followed by GCV treatment. In this case, the cell growth was markedly inhibited as compared with parental cells. Furthermore, we have studied the correlation between the expression of the HSVtk and the connexin43 proteins. Using flow cytometric analysis, scrape loading/dye transfer and immunoblotting assay we found that the cells transfected separately by pAGO, pYED, pFTK and pLTR-Cx43 showed an increase of connexin43 protein. This study indicates that transfecting Hepa1-6 cells with both connexin43 and HSVtk genes up-regulates connexin43 expression which enhances the bystander effect and subsequently tumor cell death.