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An HSV-1 amplicon system for prostate-specific expression of ICP4 to complement oncolytic viral replication for in vitro and in vivo treatment of prostate cancer cells

Cancer Gene Therapy volume 14, pages 652–660 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to determine whether a prostate-specific amplicon, containing a probasin-derived promoter (ARR2PB) upstream of an essential Herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) viral gene, infected-cell polypeptide 4 (ICP4), could complement an HSV-1 helper virus with this gene deleted (ICP4−) and cause lytic replication specifically in prostate cancer cells. Two amplicon constructs, CMV-ICP4 and ARR2PB-ICP4, were packaged by a replication-deficient ICP4− helper virus. The amplicon viruses could complement ICP4− helper viruses to efficiently replicate and cause cell lysis in prostate cancer cells. Intratumoral injection of LNCaP human prostate cancer xenografts with either amplicon/helper virus resulted in >75% reduction in tumor volume and serum prostate specific antigen (PSA). Histological and Q-PCR (quantitative PCR) analyses indicated that the toxicity in nontumor tissues was much lower with ARR2PB-ICP4 than with CMV-ICP4 amplicon/helper virus. In conclusion, a replication-deficient HSV-1 virus could be complemented by an amplicon virus to restore its oncolytic activity in a tissue-specific and low toxicity fashion, illustrating that this approach could be a potentially useful strategy for developing an oncolytic viral therapy for prostate cancer.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Ms Yang Hang (Brain Research Centre, University of British Columbia Hospital) and Mrs Mary Bowden (Prostate Centre at Vancouver General Hospital) for their technical assistance with the animal work and Mr Robert Bell, Head of Bioinformatics at the Prostate Centre, for help with statistical analyses. This research was supported by grants from the Terry Fox Foundation/National Cancer Institute of Canada.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

    C Y-F Lee & P S Rennie

  2. The Prostate Centre, Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    C Y-F Lee, P S Rennie & W W-G Jia

  3. Department of Surgery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

    L X Bu, P S Rennie & W W-G Jia

  4. Department of Urologic Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

    P S Rennie

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  1. C Y-F Lee
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Correspondence to W W-G Jia.

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Lee, CF., Bu, L., Rennie, P. et al. An HSV-1 amplicon system for prostate-specific expression of ICP4 to complement oncolytic viral replication for in vitro and in vivo treatment of prostate cancer cells. Cancer Gene Ther 14, 652–660 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.cgt.7701052

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