Adenovirus-mediated HSV-TK Gene Therapy Using hTERT Promoter in CNE Cells in vitro

Human telomerase reverse transcriptase(hTERT) activity was detected in human nasopharyngeal carci-noma cell(CNE) but not in human normal lung fibroblas t(CCD-11Lu).Recombinant adenoviruses Ad-CMV-TK-enh and Ad-hTERT-TK-enh were constructed and infected into normal fibroblasts and nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells.Ad-CMV-TK-enh with 100 μmol/L of ganciclovir(GCV) caused 87% of CCD-11Lu cells death and 91% of CNE cells death,Ad-hTERT-TK-enh with 100 μmol/L of GCV caused 24% of CCD-11Lu cells death and 79% of CNE cells death.These results indicate that the Ad-hTERT-TK-enh with GCV may be a useful method in suppressing tumor growth in targeted nasopharyngeal carcinoma gene therapy.