Fiber-substituted Conditionally Replicating Adenovirus for Oncolysis of Human Renal Carcinoma Cells

Adenovirus vectors have lately been highlighted in gene therapies. We investigated the oncolytic effects of a chimeric adenovirus type 5 (Ad5) with replacement of Ad5 fiber knob with adenovirus type 35 (Ad35) fiber knob (Ad5F35) on human renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The conditionally replicating Ad5F35 vector was constructed and infected into RCC cell lines 786-O, ACHN, and RCC4-VHL. For these cells, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and western blotting were carried out and the cell viability was assayed. In all RCC cell lines, it was found that CD46, a cell surface target of Ad35, was well-expressed, while coxsackie and adenovirus receptor (CAR), a cell surface target of Ad5, was considerably less expressed. The Ad5F35 vector induced oncolysis of RCC cells, with significantly higher efficacy as compared with that for the Ad5 vector. Ad5F35 vector could be a candidate for promising gene therapy of human RCC.