Recombinant Newcastle disease virus expressing P53 demonstrates promising antitumor efficiency in hepatoma model

Background: numerous studies have demonstrated that the ndv-mediated gene therapy is a promising new approach for treatment of cancers. p53 plays a vital role in tumor suppression and surveillance. therefore,we hypothesize that a recombinant ndv expressing p53 would be an ideal agent for the hepatoma therapy. results: in the essay,the human p53 gene was incorporated into the genome of a lentogenic strain (named rndv-p53),which did not affect viral replication kinetics and magnitude in hepg2 cells. compared to the vehicle virus,rndv-p53 increased cell growth suppressor ratio and early apoptosis by 2 folds,and decreased the mitochondrial membrane potential in hepg2 cells. in vivo studies,treatment with rndv-p53 reduced tumor volume of tumor-bearing mice by more than 4 folds,tumor weight by more than 5 folds comparing with rndv. the 120-day survival rate of rndv-p53-treated mice was 75 %,survival rate of rndv-treated mice was 12.5 %. tunel analysis showed a significant increase in the apoptosis rate in the tumor tissues of rndv-p53-treated mice than that of rndv-treated mice. moreover,serum chemistries revealed an insignificant change of blood urea nitrogen (bun),creatinine levels,alanine aminotransferase (alt) and aspartate transaminase (ast) in rndv-p53-treated group compared to normal mice,suggesting treatment with the recombinant virus was not toxic. conclusion: rndv-p53 is a potent candidate for carcinoma therapy especially for hepatocarcinoma. © 2016 the author(s).