Rapamycin enhanced sr39tk/GCV gene therapy in pre-immunized FVB mice.

<p>(A) MycCap and RM9 cells were infected by Ad-PSES-TSTA-sr39tk, Ad-CMV-sr39tk or no virus at MOI=100 and treated by indicated concentrations of GCV from day 2 to day 7 p.i.. Cell viability was measured by CCK-8 assay on day 7 and normalized to the no-virus, zero GCV condition (the dashed line). Experiments were performed in duplicates. Shown are representative results from 3 independent trials. (B) The timeline for the therapeutic study (see text). (C) Tumor growth determined by caliper measurements twice per week. n=4 for the Control and RAPA groups; n=7 for the Gene Therapy (Ad-PSES-TSTA-tk/GCV) and combinational therapy (RAPA+Ad-PSES-TSTA-tk/GCV) groups. Tumor volume = length×(width)² ×0.52. ***, P<0.0001 by two-way ANOVA comparing the combinational group against Control, RAPA and Gene Therapy cohorts.