Anticancer effects of cytosine deaminase gene/5-fluorocytosine therapies to ovarian cancer in vivo

To evaluate the anticancer effects of cytosine deaminase (CD) gene/5-fluorocytosine (5-FC) to human ovarian papillary serous cystadenocarcinoma in nude mice. Replication-deficient adenovirus containing CD gene was used to transfect human embryonal kidney cell line 293, and the adenovirus's concentration was up to 1 x 10(10) pfu (plaque forming unit)/ml after purification. Ten female BULB/C nude mice were implanted subcutaneously with approximate 0.08 g tissue of ovarian papillary serous cystadenocarcinoma from the parental generation, and they were divided into test group and control group. While the tumors grew with diameter of approximate 3mm, test group received intratumoral injections of adenovirus-CD at 1 x 10(9) pfu in a 100 microl volume on day 1, 3, 5. These animals were administered 5-FC at doses of 400 mg/kg twice daily by intraperitoneal injection from day 1 to day 7. Normal saline was used in control group with the same volume and by the same methods. Tumor volumes were measured in following days.