Abstract: Objective To investigate the effects of staphylococcal enterotoxin A SEA gene on target cells mediated by replicative-deficient recombinant adenovirus vector. Methods Lymphocytes of C57BL/6 mice were infected with various titers of recombinant adenoviruses. Supernatants were collected after 12 h, 24 h, 48 h, 72 h, 96 h, 120 h and 144 h of incubation and analyzed for proliferation of lymphocytes by MTT assay. IL-2 level in the culture supernatants was measured with ELISA. The killing effect of lymphocytes was also observed by MTT assay. Results Proliferation response and elevated levels of IL-2 were observed in experimental group. The killing effect on B16 cells was stronger in experimental group, which seemed to be dose-dependent with the increase of ratio of lymphocytes/target cells. Conclusions SEA gene can be expressed in lymphocytes of C57BL/6 mice mediated by replicative-deficient recombinant adenovirus vector. The expressing products can activate lymphocytes of C57BL/6 mice, which kill B16 cells in vitro.

Key words: Genes, bacterial, Genetic vectors, Gene expression, Cytopathogenic effect, virus