Oncolytic E1B 55KDa-deleted adenovirus replication is independent of p53 levels in cancer cells

Oncolytic adenoviruses represent a new approach for cancer therapy due to its tumor specificity. E1B 55kDa-deleted adenovirus type 5 (Ad5dlE1B 55kDa) is a promising therapeutic agent that can selectively replicate in and lyse p53 defective cancer cells. However, the overall efficacy has shown varying degrees of success with raised doubts about the correlation between p53 status and E1B-deleted adenovirus replication ability. In this study, we investigated the relationship between the efficiency of Ad5dlE1B 55kDa replication and p53 levels in cancer cells. Five transient p53 expression vectors were engineered to expresses different p53 levels in transfected cells. Then, the effect of the variable p53 levels and cellular backgrounds on the replication efficiency of oncolytic Ad5dlE1B 55kDa was evaluated in H1299 and HeLa cell lines. We found that the replication efficiency of these oncolytic viruses is dependent on the status, but not the expression levels, of p53. Ad5dlE1B 55kDa was shown to have selective replication activity in H1299 cells (p53-null) and decreased viral replication in HeLa cells (p53-positive), relative to the wild-type adenovirus in both cell lines. Our findings suggest that there is a relation between the E1B-deleted adenovirus replication and the presence as well as the activity of p53, independent of its quantity.