ABSTRACT
C/EBPβ (CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein β) is an important transcription factor involved in cellular proliferation and differentiation. Overexpression of the full-length C/EBPβ protein results in cellular growth arrest and apoptosis. Using a nonviral liposome as carrier, we delivered the full-length C/EBPβ expression plasmid, pCN, into nude mice bearing CW-2 human colon cancer tumors via tail vein. Southern blots revealed that the major organs and tumors were transfected. Experimental gene therapy showed that a strong suppression of tumor growth was observed in the pCN-treated mice, and such suppression was due to the overexpression of C/EBPβ, leading to the increased apoptosis in tumors of pCN-treated mice. No apparent toxic effects of pCN/liposome complex were observed in the animals. Thus, C/EBPβ has tumor suppression effect in vivo and may be used in gene therapy for cancers.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.39970172), a grant from the CAS-Pudong Hightech Seed Foundation, a grant from Shanghai-SK R& D Foundation, and a grant from the Creation Foundation, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences.
The authors thank Shizuo AKIRA (Kyoto University, Japan) for the C/EBPβ (NF-IL6) full-length cDNA; Feng LIU and Jin Mei ZHANG for routine breeding of nude mice; Hai Juan DU, Da WANG, Xin Yuan LIU, Yun Yi WEI, Ying Ling HUANG and Xiao Jiang WU for help in work.
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SUN, L., FU, B. & LIU, D. Systemic delivery of full-length C/EBPβ/liposome complex suppresses growth of human colon cancer in nude mice. Cell Res 15, 770–776 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.cr.7290346
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.cr.7290346
