Tumor-selective transgene expression in vivo mediated by an E2F-responsive adenoviral vector

Recent data suggest that many tumors, such as malignant gliomas, have disrupted pRB function, either because of RB-1 gene mutations or as a result of mutations affecting upstream regulators of pRB such as cyclin D1 or p16/INK4a/MTS1 (ref. 1-5). Tumor suppression by pRB has been linked to its ability to repress E2F-responsive promoters such as the E2F-1 promoter. Thus, a prediction, which has not yet been demonstrated experimentally in vivo, is that E2F-responsive promoters should be more active in tumor cells relative to normal cells because of an excess of "free" E2F and loss of pRB/E2F repressor complexes. We demonstrate that adenoviral vectors that contain transgenes driven by the E2F-1 promoter can mediate tumor-selective gene expression in vivo, allowing for eradication of established gliomas with significantly less normal tissue toxicity than seen with standard adenoviral vectors. Our data indicate that de-repression of the E2F-1 promoter occurs in cancer cells in vivo, a finding that can be exploited to design viral vectors that mediate tumor-selective gene expression.