Gene Therapy for Hepatic Metastasis

Shuji Hayashi and Akimasa Nakao

Department of Surgery II, Nagoya University, School of Medicine

Hepatic metastasis is an important factor to limit the prognosis of patient with abdominal malignancies. In this study, the authors examined the effect of gene therapy on the inhibition of hepatic metastasis after abdominal surgery using adenoviral vectors. After adenoviral vectors with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), interleukin-10 (IL-10), and I Kappa beta (IKB) cDNAs were transduced to the liver and/or cancer cells, the experiments on hepatic metastasis were performed. The findings demonstrated that adenovirus-mediated gene transfer with tPA or IL-10 cDNA was effective in the suppression of hepatic metastasis. especially by transduction to both the liver and cancerous tissue, and that hepatic metastasis was synergistically inhibited by using both IKB cDNA and CDDP. In conclusion, gene therapy for the liver and cancer tissue is not only feasible but also a novel strategy to inhibit hepatic metastasis after abdominal surgery.

Key words
gene therapy, hepatic metastasis

Reprint requests
Shuji Hayashi Department of Surgery II, Nagoya University, School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai, Showa-ku Nagoya, 466-8506 JAPAN

Accepted
December 22, 1999

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