E1A RNA transcripts amplify adenovirus-mediated tumor reduction

Previous work by this group has established that E1-defective, recombinant adenoviruses can be replication-enabled by the codelivery of a plasmid encoding the deleted E1 functions, a strategy now designated conditional replication-enablement system for adenovirus (CRESA). In the studies reported here, the original replication-enabling plasmid was replaced by two separate plasmids that encoded the necessary E1A and E1B functions, respectively. An RNA transcript encoding the requisite E1A functions was shown to substitute functionally for the E1A plasmid without significant loss of new adenovirus production in in vitro experiments. No replication competent adenovirus was detectable in the cells treated with the plasmids, or the RNA and plasmid combinations. Subcutaneous human tumor nodules containing a fraction of cells cotransduced with the replication-enabling RNA + DNA and an adenovirus containing a herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSVtk) expression cassette were reduced to a greater extent than control nodules containing the same fraction of cells cotransduced with the virus and an irrelevant plasmid. These experiments show that an E1-defective adenovirus can be conditionally replication-enabled by an RNA transcript encoding the required E1 functions, and that the replication-enablement is sufficient to produce an augmentation of an adenovirus-mediated therapeutic effect in vivo.