Background: Hormone therapy and chemotherapy are not effective for castrate-resistant prostate cancer, thus development of novel treatment strategies is required. Gene therapy involving transient high-copy transfection of interleukin (IL)-24 with an adenoviral vector can exert antitumor activity; however, the effects of stable IL-24 transfection are not fully understood. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of IL-24 overexpression in prostate cancer cells, in vitro.
Materials and methods: DU145 cells were transfected the IL-24 gene using a retroviral vector. Apoptosis induction was investigated by the cell death detection ELISA, and the gene expression was analyzed by real time RT-PCR.
Results: IL-24 transduction suppressed the growth of prostate cancer and induced tumor cell apoptosis. In addition, up-regulation of epithelial markers and down-regulation of mesenchymal markers were noted, suggesting that tumor aggressiveness was reduced.
Conclusion: Introduction of IL-24 displays antitumor activity both by induction of apoptosis and regulation of anchorage dependence.
Keywords: IL-24; anchorage dependence; prostate cancer; stable retroviral transfection.
Copyright© 2019, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.