p53 selective adenoviral vector for transgene expression and replication as a therapeutic tool for virotherapy of p53 altered cancers

Aims: A major obstacle of adenoviral cancer therapy is the tight restriction of therapeutic gene expression or viral replication to malignant cells. This study presents the bicistronic adenoviral vector Adp53dpR for gene therapy of tumor cells with altered p53-status. Methods/Results: First, a luciferase version of Adp53dpR-(Luc) was constructed including one cistron containing luciferase controlled by an artificial GAL4-binding CMV-promoter which can be efficiently inhibited by GAL4-KRAB. A second cistron contained GAL4-KRAB under control of an artificial p53 selective promoter (prMinRGC). prMinRGC showed stron…