Abstract
This study determined the effect of Ad-E1A gene therapy in vivo. TC71 cells (2×106) injected subcutaneously into nude mice resulted in tumor development (1–3 mm) 6 days later. Animals were then treated with Ad-E1A or Ad-β-gal (5×109 plaque-forming units) by intratumoral injection twice weekly for 2 weeks. Animals received 8 mg/kg VP-16 given by intraperitoneal injection daily for 5 days following the first week of treatment with Ad-E1A or Ad-β-gal. Control animals received no therapy or VP-16 only after tumor cells were injected. When tumors exceeded 2×2 cm, the mice were sacrificed and the tumors underwent histologic and immunohistochemical analysis. Tumors from mice treated with Ad-E1A plus VP-16 were 9.6-fold smaller than those treated with VP-16 alone and 6.3-fold smaller than those treated with Ad-E1A alone. HER2/neu p185 protein expression decreased in all tumors that received Ad-E1A therapy. TUNEL fluorescence staining revealed more apoptosis in the tumors from animals treated with Ad-E1A plus VP-16 than in those from animals treated with Ad-E1A alone, Ad-β-gal plus VP-16, or VP-16 alone. These data demonstrated that Ad-E1A gene therapy down-regulated HER2/neu expression, increased tumor cell apoptosis induced by VP-16, and enhanced tumor cell sensitivity to VP-16. Ad-E1A may have potential in the treatment of relapsed drug-resistant Ewing's sarcoma.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to the full article PDF.
USD 39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout





Similar content being viewed by others
References
Dorfman HD, Czerniak B . Bone cancers Cancer 1995 75: 203–210
Horowitz ME, Malawer MM, Woo SY et al. Ewing's sarcoma family of tumor: Ewing's sarcoma of bone and soft tissue and the peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumors In: Pizzo PA, Poplack DG, eds Principles and Practice of Pediatric Oncology Philadelphia: Lippincott-Raven Publishers 1997 831–863
Slamon DJ, Godolphin W, Jones LA et al. Studies of the HER-2/neu proto-oncogene in human breast and ovarian cancer Science 1989 44: 707–712
Berchuck A, Kamel A, Whitaker R et al. Overexpression of HER-2/neu is associated with poor survival in advanced epithelial ovarian cancer Cancer Res 1990 50: 4087–4091
Gorlick R, Huvos AG, Heller G et al. Expression of HER2/erB-2 correlates with survival in osteosarcoma J Clin Oncol 1999 17: 2781–2791
Onde M, Matsuda S, Higuki S et al. Erb-2 expression is correlated with poor prognosis for patients with osteosarcoma Cancer 1995 7: 71–78
Chen H, Hung MC . Involvement of co-activator p300 in the transcriptional regulation of the HER-2/neu gene J Biol Chem 1997 272: 6101–6104
Yu D, Hamada J, Zhang H et al. Mechanisms of c-erbB2/neu oncogene-induced metastasis and repression of metastatic properties by adenovirus 5 E1A gene products Oncogene 1992 7: 2263–2270
Yu DH, Scorsone K, Hung MC . Adenovirus type 5 E1A gene products act as transformation suppressors of the neu oncogene Mol Cell Biol 1991 11: 1745–1750
Yu D, Suen T, Yan D et al. Transcriptional repression of the neu protooncogene by the adenovirus 5 E1A gene products Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1990 87: 4499–4503
Zhou Z, Jia S-F, Hung MC et al. E1A sensitizes Her2/neu overexpressing Ewing's sarcoma cells to topoisomerase II–targeting anticancer drugs Cancer Res 2001 61: 3394–3398
Hung MC, Wang SC, Hortobagyi GN . Targeting Her-2/neu overexpressing cancer cells with transcriptional repressor genes delivered by liposome In: Hung L, Hung MC, Wagner E, eds Cancer Gene Therapy Using Cationic Liposome: Preclinic and Clinic Studies San Diego: Academic Press 1999 357–377
Graham FL, Prevec L . Manipulation of adenovirus vector. Gene transfer and expression protocols In: Murray EJ, ed Methods in Molecular Biology: Gene Transfer and Expression. Protocols, Vol 7 Clifton, NJ: The Humana Press 1991 7: 109–128
Jia S-F, Zhou R-R, Kleinerman ES . Nude mouse lung metastases of osteosarcoma and Ewing's sarcoma for evaluating new therapeutic strategies In: Driscoll B, ed Lung Cancer: Methods and Protocols Totowa, NJ: The Humana Press In press
Yu D, Wolf JK, Scanlon M et al. Enhanced c-erbB-2/neu expression in human ovarian cancer cells correlates with more severe malignancy that can be suppressed by E1A Cancer Res 1993 53: 891–898
Zhang Y, Yu D, Xia W et al. HER-2/neu-targeting cancer therapy via adenovirus-mediated E1A delivery in an animal model Oncogene 1995 10: 1947–1954
Chang JY, Xia W, Shao R et al. The tumor suppression activity of E1A in HER-2/neu-overexpressing breast cancer Oncogene 1997 14: 561–568
Chang JY, Xia W, Shao R et al. Inhibition of intratracheal lung cancer development by systemic delivery of E1A Oncogene 1996 13: 1405–1412
Frisch SM . Antioncogenic effect of adenovirus E1A in human tumor cells Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1991 88: 9077–9081
Frisch SM, Dolter KE . Adenovirus E1a–mediated tumor suppression by a c-erbB-2/neu-independent mechanism Cancer Res 1995 55: 5551–5555
Moran E, Mathews M . Multiple functional domains in the adenovirus E1A gene Cell 1987 48: 177–178
Frisch S, Reich R, Collier I et al. Adenovirus E1A represses protease gene expression and inhibits metastasis of human tumor cells Oncogene 1990 5: 75–83
Frisch SM . Antioncogenic effect of adenovirus E1A in human tumor cells Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1991 88: 9077–9081
Pozzatti R, McCormick M, Thompson MA et al. The E1a gene of adenovirus type 2 reduces the metastatic potential of ras-transformed rat embryo cells Mol Cell Biol 1988 8: 2984–2988
Lowe SW, Ruley H, Jacks T et al. p53-dependent apoptosis modulates the cytotoxicity of anticancer agents Cell 1993 74: 957–967
Rao L, Debbas M, Sabbatini P et al. The adenovirus E1A proteins induce apoptosis, which is inhibited by the E1B 19-kDa and Bcl-2 proteins Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1992 89: 7742–7746
Teodoro JG, Shore GC, Branton PE . Adenovirus E1A proteins induce apoptosis by both p53-dependent and p53-independent mechanisms Oncogene 1995 11: 467–474
Putzer B, Stiewe T, Parssanedjad K et al. E1A is sufficient by itself to induce apoptosis independent of P53 and other adenoviral gene products Cell Death Differ 2000 7: 177–188
Ueno NT, Bartholomeusz C, Herrmann JL et al. E1A-mediated paclitaxel sensitization in Her2/neu-overexpressing ovarian cancer SKOV3.ip1 through apoptosis involving the caspase-3 pathway Clin Cancer Res 2000 16: 250–259
Hortobagyi GN, Hung MC, Lopez-Berestein G . A phase I multicenter study of E1A gene therapy for patients with metastatic breast cancer and epithelial ovarian cancer that overexpresses HER-2/neu or epithelial ovarian cancer Hum Gene Ther 1998 9: 1775–1798
Weiner DB, Nordberg J, Robinson R et al. Expression of the neu gene–encoded protein (P185neu) in human nonsmall cell carcinomas of the lung Cancer Res 1990 50: 421–425
Zhou Z, Zhou RR, Hung MC et al. E1A down-regulated VEGF and MMP-9 Expression in TC-71 Ewing's sarcoma cells Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research, New Orleans, LA 2001 42: 410 Ab# 2210
Toi M, Bando H, Kuroi K . The predictive value of angiogenesis for adjuvant therapy in breast cancer Breast Cancer 2000 7: 311–314
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhou, RR., Jia, SF., Zhou, Z. et al. Adenovirus-E1A gene therapy enhances the in vivo sensitivity of Ewing's sarcoma to VP-16. Cancer Gene Ther 9, 407–413 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.cgt.7700449
Received:
Published:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.cgt.7700449


