The objective of this project was to determine whether the new Ad3-hTERT-E1A based viruses armed with immunological genes are functional and have efficacy for further research aiming at clinical experiments. The hypothesis was that they would be oncolytically as potential as earlier studied Ad3-hTERT-E1A virus in vitro and in vivo.
The encouraging results from previous studies had shown the potential of serotype 3 adenoviruses (Ad3). (1, 2) Unlike the more extensively researched Ad5 and Ad5/3 viruses, the Ad3 viruses open epithelial junctions while infecting cells and use other receptors to enter cells, which might enable them to spread more easily in tumours.(3) The new viruses were compared with the E1A first in vitro (progressive TCID50, MTS) and then in vivo in a SKOV3-luc intra peritoneal tumour animal experiment with SCID mice (immunodeficient).
We found that the new viruses have the same oncolytic potential as the old E1A virus both in vitro and in vivo, which confirmed the basic hypothesis. This provides a starting point for further research on the immunologically armed Ad3 viruses.
