Gene therapy is a novel therapeutic approach that might soon improve the pr
ognosis of some cancers. We investigated the feasibility of cytosine deamin
ase (CD) suicide gene therapy in a model of peritoneal carcinomatosis. DHD/
K12 colorectal adenocarcinoma cells transfected in vitro with the CD gene w
ere highly sensitive to 5-fluorocytosine (5-FC), and a bystander effect cou
ld also be observed. Treating CD+ cells with 5-FC resulted in apoptosis as
detected by terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated deoxyuridine trip
hosphate nick-end labeling. In vitro, several human cell lines derived from
ovarian or colorectal carcinomas, as well as the rat glioblastoma 9 L cell
line, responded to CD/5-FC and showed a very strong bystander effect. 5-FC
treatment of peritoneal carcinomatosis generated in syngeneic BDIX rats by
CD-expressing DHD/K12 cells led to a complete and prolonged response and t
o prolonged survival. Our study thus demonstrated the efficacy of CD suicid
e gene therapy for the treatment of peritoneal carcinomatosis.