Overexpression of coxsackie and adenovirus receptor inhibit growth of human bladder cancer cell in vitro and in vivo

AIM: To study the effect of the overexpression of coxsackie and the adenovirus receptor (CAR) on the growth of the human bladder cancer cell in vitro and in vivo. METHODS: A retroviral vector pLXSN-CAR expressing CAR was constructed and confirmed by restriction enzyme mapping. The pLXSN-CAR vector and control vector pLXSN were transfected into the PT67 packaging cell line to generate retrovirus with high titer. The CAR-negative T24 cell was infected with the pLXSN-CAR and the pLXSN retrovirus, respectively. The positive clone cells were selected with G418 for 2 weeks. The expression level of the CAR protein was detected by Western blot assay. T24 cell growth in vitro was determined by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Anchorage-independent growth was measured by soft-agar colony formation assay. In vivo cell growth was determined by a nude mice xenograft model. RESULTS: The pLXSN-CAR vector containing full-length CAR cDNA was successfully constructed. Western blot analysis showed that a 46 kDa specific band was found in pLXSN-CA-transfected T24 cells. MTT assay identified the growth inhibition of T24/pLXSN-CAR cells. The cell colony forming ability of T24/pLXSN-CAR cells was significantly lower than that of T24/pLXSN and parental T24 cells. There was a reduction in the tumor size in the T24/pLXSN-CAR group as compared with that of the T24/pLXSN group and parental T24 group. CONCLUSION: The overexpression of CAR in T24 bladder cancer cells can inhibit cell growth both in vitro and in vivo.