Administration of wild-type p53 adenoviral vector synergistically enhances the cytotoxicity of anti-cancer drugs in human lung cancer cells irrespective of the status of p53 gene

Recombinant adenovirus mediated p53 gene transfer combined with anti-cancer drugs has clinical potential for gene therapy of lung cancer. We constructed a recombinant adenoviral vector expressing wild-type p53 cDNA (Ad-p53), and assessed the efficacy of a combined treatment with Ad-p53 and six anti-cancer drugs (cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil, doxorubicin, docetaxel, irinotecan, and etoposide) for human lung cancer cell lines, H1299 (with deleted p53), RERF-LC-OK (with mutant p53), and A549 (with wild-type p53). The infection of the Ad-p53 vector into H1299 cells, RERF-LC-OK cells, or A549 cells increased the sensitivity to all six drugs regardless of the cellular p53 status, and a synergism was observed by the isobolic method in combination studies (D<1). We conclude that our strategy using adenoviral mediated p53 gene transfer to cancer cells can enhance the cytotoxic effect of anti-cancer drugs, which leading to an improvement of lung cancer chemotherapy.