Targeting eradication of chronic myeloid leukemia using chimeric oncolytic adenovirus to drive IL-24 expression

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a clonal disorder in which cells of the myeloid lineage undergo massive clonal expansion as well as resistance to conventional chemotherapy. Gene therapy hold a great promise for treatment of malignancies based on the transfer of genetic material to the tissues. In this study, we explore whether chimeric oncolytic adenovirus-mediated transfer of human interleukin-24 (IL-24) gene induce the enhanced antitumor potency. Our results showed that chimeric oncolytic adenovirus carrying hIL-24 (AdCN205-11-IL-24) could produce high levels of hIL-24 in CML cancer cells, as compared with constructed double-regulated oncolytic adenovirus expressing hIL-24 (AdCN205-IL-24). AdCN205-11-IL-24 could specifically induce cytotoxocity to CML cancer cells, but little or no effect on normal cell lines. AdCN205-11-IL-24 exhibited remarkable anti-tumor activities and induce higher antitumor activity to CML cancer cells by inducing apoptosis in vitro. Our study may provides a potent and safe tool for CML gene therapy.