Treatment of human renal cell carcinoma by a conditionally replicating herpes vector G207

Purpose: Surgical removal remains the only potentially curative therapy for renal cell carcinoma. In this study we evaluated the inhibitory effect of the replication competent engineered herpes simplex virus type 1, G207, for renal cell carcinoma in vitro and in vivo. Materials and Methods: The nature of G207 enables it to replicate within ca ncer cells, thus, causing cytolysis, but replication is restricted within n ormal cells. The susceptibility of the human renal cancer cell lines ACHN a nd A498 to G207 at a multiplicity of infection of 0.1 was examined. In addi tion, the growth characteristics of G207 was assessed. In vivo athymic mice bearing subcutaneous tumors were inoculated with 1 x 10(7) plaque forming units of G207 intra-neoplastically. For pathological analysis subcutaneous tumors were stained with X-gal. Results: Two cell lines were efficiently destroyed by G207 within 1 week. T he viral yields of G207 increased in a time dependent manner. In vivo the i ntra-neoplastic inoculation of G207 caused significantly decreased tumor gr owth in athymic mice harboring subcutaneous human renal cancer cells. On da y 14 the mean growth ratio of ACHN and A498 lesions was significantly inhib ited in G207 treated compared to control tumors (p < 0.005 and < 0.0001, re spectively). Conclusions: These results suggest that G207 should be considered another p otential therapeutic agent for renal cell carcinoma.