The relationship of gap junction with the bystander effect in the HSV-TK/GCV treatment / 中国药理学通报

ABSTRACT

The bystander effect(BE) plays an important role in the gene therapy of cancer by the herpes thymidine kinase/ganciclovir(HSV-TK/GCV) system.It enhances the therapeutic efficacy of this system.Up to now,the exact underlying mechanism of the bystander effect remains unclear.A large body of evidence has indicated a close correlation of the connexin expression and gap junction in the targeted cells to the bystander effect.Here the publications concerning the relationship of gap junction with the bystander effect in the HSV-TK/GCV treatment have been reviewed.The possible cell death signals that can be transferred through gap junction to induce the bystander effect are also discussed.