Construction of adenoviral vector expressing p16 gene targeting the hepatocellular carcinoma cells

Objective:To clone the AFP promoter and p16 gene, construct the adenoviral vector targeting hepatocellular carcinoma, and investigate the specific expression of p16 gene and its effect on the growth of hepatocellular carcinoma cells.Methods:The AFP promoter and p16 gene were cloned and inserted into the adenoviral vector and recombined adenovirus AdAFP-p16 in 293 cells. Western Blot was used to detect the p16 gene expression specifically in hepatocellular carcinoma. Cytopathic effect assay (CPE) was used to study the inhibition on the growth of hepatocellular carcinoma cells.Results:AdAFP-p16 could mediate p16 gene expression efficiently and specifically in hepatocellular carcinoma cells, but there was no influence on the expression of p16 gene in normal cells. The expression of p16 gene could obviously inhibit the growth of hepatocellular carcinoma cells.Conclusion:The application of AFP promoter is capable of making p16 gene expression specifically in hepatocellular carcinoma cells, so that the concentration of gene expression product may be increased in tumor mass and then the antitumor efficacy may be enhanced.