Selective reversal of drug resistance in drug-resistant lung adenocarcinoma cells by tumor-specific expression of mdrl ribozyme gene mediated by retrovirus

Abstract

According to the fact that CEA gene expressed only in lung adenocarcinoma and not in normal lung cells, a retroviral vector (pCEAMR) was constructed which carried the CEA promoter coupled to MDRl ribozyme gene. pCEAMR was introduced into drug-resistant lung adenocarcinoma cells GAOK with CEA expression and HeLaK without CEA expression; the expression of pCEAMR and drug resistance in the infected cells were analyzedin vitro andin vivo; pCEAMR expressed only in CEA-producing GAOK cells and not in non-CEA-producing HeLa cells. The drug resistance to doxorubicin (DOX) decreased 91.5% in the infected GAOK cells and did not change in the infected HeLa cells. In nude mice, DOX could obviously inhibit the growth of the infected GAOK tumors, and had no effect on the growth of the infected HeLa cells. These results indicated that MDRl ribozyme gene regulated by CEA promoter expressed only in human adenocarcinoma cells and reversed their drug resistance selectively. This gene-drug therapy might serve as an effective treatment method for patients with CEA-producing lung cancers which was usually refractory to conventional chemotherapy.