Triple-regulated conditionally replicating adenovirus for effective and safer treatment of peritoneal carcinomatosis

There is no effective therapy for peritoneal carcinomatosis derived from gastric cancer. An ideal conditionally replicating adenovirus (CRA) that selectively replicates in and kills cancer cells has not been developed for gastric cancer-derived peritoneal carcinomatosis. Using our platform technology of CRA regulated and treating tumors with multiple factors (m-CRA), we generated two types of survivin-responsive m-CRAs, Surv.m-CRA-CMVp and Surv.m-CRA-CEAp, consisting of E1A downstream of the survivin promoter, and the mutated E1B gene downstream of the human cytomegalovirus immediate early gene enhancer/promoter and carcinoembryonic antigen promoter, respectively. Survivin mRNA was expressed at high and undetectable levels in two gastric cancer cells and eleven normal cells, respectively. Carcinoembryonic antigen was expressed at high and very low levels in MKN-45 gastric cancer and normal PrEC cells, respectively, and was not detected in other cell types. While both Surv.m-CRA-CEAp and Surv.m-CRA-CMVp exhibited potent cytotoxic effects on MKN-45 cells in vitro, Surv.m-CRA-CEAp significantly reduced cytotoxicity to normal cells compared to Surv.m-CRA-CMVp. Control mice that received an intraperitoneal injection of MKN-45 cells gradually lost body weight and died of peritoneal carcinomatosis within 98 days. In contrast, all mice receiving Surv.m-CRA-CEAp or Surv.m-CRA-CMVp-infected MKN-45 cells increased their body weight and survived 120 days. In conclusion, the triple-regulated Surv.m-CRA-CEAp enhances cancer specificity (i.e., safety) without reducing the potent therapeutic effect for carcinoembryonic antigen-positive gastric cancer-derived peritoneal carcinomatosis. The modified E1B promoter strategy of CRA facilitates the development of novel CRAs for the effective and safe treatment of a variety of refractory cancers.