THE LEVELS OF INTEGRIN ALPHA(V)BETA-5 MAY PREDICT THE SUSCEPTIBILITY TO ADENOVIRUS-MEDIATED GENE-TRANSFER IN HUMAN LUNG-CANCER CELLS

Adenovirus-mediated transfer of growth-inhibiting molecules, such as p 53, shows promise as an effective method of suppressing the growth of cancer cells. As the basis for in vivo studies, we examined transfecti on efficiency using 15 human lung cancer cell lines that differ in the ir endogenous p53 status. When infected with an adenovirus expressing bacterial beta-galactosidase, the different cell lines showed differen t levels of beta-galactosidase activity. We found a correlation betwee n the level of integrin alpha(v) beta 5, which is thought to ben an ad herence receptor for adenoviruses, and the expression level of the tra nsferred gene, suggesting that gene expression is largely dependent on the infection efficiency. Growth inhibition was induced in all cell l ines tested following infection with an adenovirus containing p53, pro vided a sufficient amount of p53 protein was expressed. Our results (1 ) confirm that the examination of the susceptibility of target cancer cells to an adenovirus is important when considering performing adenov irus-mediated gene transfer and for evaluating its therapeutic effects ; and (2) suggest that the quantification of integrin alpha(v) beta 5 may be a good way of predicting the susceptibility of cells to adenovi ral vectors.