Bifidobacterium longum as an oral delivery system of endostatin for gene therapy on solid liver cancer

• Published in: Cancer gene therapy Vol. 12; no. 2; pp. 133 - 140
• Main Authors: Fu, Geng-Feng, Li, Xi, Hou, Ya-Yi, Fan, Yan-Rong, Liu, Wen-Hua, Xu, Gen-Xing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Nature Publishing Group 01.02.2005
• Subjects: Administration, Oral; Animals; Bifidobacterium - physiology; Bifidobacterium longum; Care and treatment; Diagnosis; Dosage and administration; Drug Delivery Systems; Endostatin; Endostatins - administration & dosage; Gene therapy; Genetic aspects; Genetic Therapy; Genetic Vectors; Health aspects; Interleukin 2; Interleukin-2 - metabolism; Killer Cells, Natural - immunology; Killer Cells, Natural - metabolism; Liver cancer; Liver Neoplasms, Experimental - genetics; Liver Neoplasms, Experimental - microbiology; Liver Neoplasms, Experimental - therapy; Lymphocytes T; Lymphoma - genetics; Lymphoma - microbiology; Lymphoma - therapy; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Mice, Nude; Risk factors; Selenium; Selenium - therapeutic use; Survival Rate; T-Lymphocytes - immunology; T-Lymphocytes - metabolism; Temperature; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha - metabolism; Tumor necrosis factor-α; Tumors; China
• ISSN: 0929-1903; 1476-5500
• DOI: 10.1038/sj.cgt.7700758

To overcome difficulties that hampered widespread application of a specific delivery system in cancer gene therapy and to inhibit the growth of solid liver cancer, we utilized a strain of Bifidobacterium longum as a delivery system to transport an endostatin gene that can inhibit growth of tumor. The B. longum strain with the endostatin gene (B. longum-En) was taken orally by tumor-bearing nude mice through drencher preparation. The results showed that B. longum-En could strongly inhibit the growth of solid liver tumor in nude mice and prolong the survival time of tumor-bearing nude mice. Furthermore, tumor growth was inhibited more efficiently when the B. longum-En treatment included selenium. Enriching the B. longum-En treatment with selenium improves the activity of NK and T cells and stimulates the activity of IL-2 and TNF-alpha in BALB/c mice. These results suggest that B. longum may be a highly specific and efficient vector for transporting anticancer genes in cancer gene therapy.