Viral Therapy Using the Oncolytic Adenovirus H101 to Treat Uveal Melanoma

Abstract

Uveal melanoma is the most serious primary intraocular malignancy in adults. Traditional approaches to treating uveal melanoma, including surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, are insufficient. The oncolytic adenovirus H101 specifically replicates in and kills <italic>p53</italic>-mutant tumour cells while sparing normal cells and has been approved for use by the China Food and Drug Administration. To investigate the effect of treating uveal melanoma with H101, we infected specific uveal melanoma cell lines <italic>in vitro</italic> and observed significant cell growth inhibition, apoptosis and cell cycle arrest; the treatment was innocuous in the ARPE-19 normal cell line. <italic>In vivo</italic>, an intratumoural injection of H101 inhibited tumour growth and prolonged animal survival in the SP6.5 tumour xenograft mouse model. These results indicated that viral therapy using the oncolytic adenovirus H101 is feasible and promising for the treatment of uveal melanoma.