Metastatic prostate cancer is often associated with either primary or intractable castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), thus justifying the search for entirely new ways of treatment. Oncolytic viruses are able to selectively induce the death of tumor cells without affecting normal cells. A murine Sendai virus has potential to be used as an oncolytic agent. However, tumors vary in their sensitivity to different viruses, prompting us to attempt to identify corresponding biomarkers that reflect the interaction of cancer cells and the virus. Here, we show that the sensitivity of primary prostatic adenocarcinoma cell lines to Sendai virus strain (SeVM) vary substantially. Using quantitative PCR, we evaluated expression levels of genes that encode RIG-1-like and Toll-like receptors (TLRs) in cell lines and showed that the levels of mRNAs that encode TLR3 and TLR7 correlate with a degree of sensitivity of the cells to Sendai virus. The lines with lower levels of TLR3 and TLR7 expression are more sensitive to the virus.
Keywords: Sendai virus; gene expression; oncolytic viruses; primary cell lines; prostate cancer; quantitative PCR.