ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the effect of adenovirus (Ad)-mediated fusion gene system driven by the KDR promoter on the proliferation of human colon adenocarcinoma SW620 cells.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The KDR-expressing SW620 cells and LS174T cells not expressing KDR were both infected with AdEasy-KDR-CDglyTK followed by treatment with the prodrugs 5-FC and/or ganciclovir at different concentrations. The effect of the transfection on the cell proliferation was evaluated.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP) was observed in 95% of the infected SW620 and LS174T cells with a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 100. Significant difference was not founded in the growth of SW620 and LS174T cells with or without the transfection. The infected SW620 cells exhibit high sensitivity to the prodrugs, but the infected LS174T cells did not (P<0.01). The CDglyTK fusion gene produced much stronger killing effect of on the target cells than either of the single suicide genes (P<0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>CDglyTK fusion gene system driven by the KDR promoter selectively kills the KDR-CDglyTK SW620 cells and inhibits the cell proliferation.</p>