Abstract:

Objective To investigate the inhibitory effect of dacarbazine and an oncolytic adenovirus carrying interleukin-24 （IL-24） on transplanted melanoma in nude mice. Methods Nude mice were inoculated with human A375 melanoma cells to establish a model of malignant melanoma. Then, the mice were divided into 4 groups to be treated with an oncolytic adenovirus carrying interleukin-24 （ZD55-IL-24）, dacarbazine, the combination of ZD55-IL-24 and dacarbazine, and phosphate buffer （PBS）, respectively, for 3 days. Seven days after the end of the treatment, some mice were sacrificed followed by the determination of IL-24 and E1A protein levels in tumor tissue by Western blot. The tumor volume was measured on a daily basis for 30 days. Results IL-24 and E1A were highly expressed in melanoma cell-bearing nude mice treated with ZD55-IL-24 and dacarbazine. At 30 days after the inoculation, the average volume of transplanted melanoma was （2346.5 ± 576.0） mm3 in the combination group, significantly different from that in the ZD55-IL-24 group （（4141.6 ± 1348.2） mm3, P < 0.05）, dacarbazine group （（5230.1 ± 922.8） mm3, P < 0.05）, and the control group （（7135.1 ± 1002.3） mm3, P < 0.05）. Conclusion The ZD55-IL-24 in combination with dacarbazine exhibits a remarkably inhibitory effect on the proliferation of melanoma transplanted into nude mice.

Key words: DTIC