VSV-MP gene therapy strategy inhibits tumor growth in nude mice model of human lung adenocarcinoma

Abstract

Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) matrix protein (MP) can induce in vitro apoptosis of tumor cells in the absence of other viral components. Here, the antitumor activity of VSV-MP against lung adenocarcinoma was investigated in vivo. A pVAX-plasmid DNA encoding VSV-MP and control empty vectors (pVAX) were constructed and wrapped-up with liposome. A549 and Spc-A1 human lung adenocarcinoma cells were transfected with liposomal-VSV-MP (Lip-MP) or Lip-pVAX and then examined for cell viability or apoptosis using Hoechst/propidium iodide staining by flow cytometry, and further demonstrated by caspase/poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) cleavage analysis. For the in vivo study, A549 and Spc-A1 lung carcinoma models in nude mice were established and randomly assigned into three groups to receive eight 2-weekly intravenous administrations of medium alone as control, Lip-pVAX or Lip-MP, respectively. Subsequently, Lip-MP significantly reduced tumor growth and prolonged the survival of tumor-bearing mice compared with Lip-pVAX and control agents (P<0.05), with much higher apoptosis index of both in vivo and in vitro tumor cells, respectively (P<0.05). In addition, in vivo antitumoral effect was associated with natural killer-(NK) cell congregation without evidence of toxicity. These observations suggest that systemically delivering Lip-MP has a specific dual antitumor activity in human lung adenocarcinoma by inducing apoptosis and possibly stimulating NK-cell responses, it may provide a clue for developing new therapeutic approaches against human lung adenocarcinoma.