Effects of herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase/acyclovir system on growth of human pulmonary adenocarcinoma A549 cell line in vitro and in vivo

Objective: To observe the effect of anciclovir (ACV) treatment on tumors induced by inoculation of TK gene-transfected human pulmonary adenocarcinoma A549 cells in nude mice. Methods: A recombinant plasmid containing TK gene was constructed and transfected into A549 cells by electroporation. The sensitivity of the transgenic cells (A549-TK) to ACV was examined by MTT assay in vitro and for in vivo observation, inoculation of A549-TK and A-549 cells into nude mice was separately performed to induce tumor growth, the response of which to ACV treatment was observed, and the tumor tissues were pathologically examined. Results: A recombinant plasmid containing TK gene was successfully constructed and transfected into A549 cells. The sensitivity of A549-TK cells to ACV was 43 times higher than that of A549 cells. The tumors induced by A549-TK cells showed no significant increase in size after ACV treatment (P>0. 05) , and light microscopy revealed local tissue necrosis, karyoklasis, and nuclei disappearance.