In order to enhance the efficacy of conditionally replicating adenoviruses (CRAd) in the treatment of
cancers of the biliary tract, we studied the efficacy in vitro and in vivo of AxE1CAUP, a CRAd vector that carries a gene for
uracil phosphoribosyltransferase (UPRT), which converts
5-fluorouracil (5-FU) directly to
5-fluorouridine monophosphate and greatly enhances the cytotoxicity of
5-FU. AxE1CAUP replicated and induced an increased UPRT expression in biliary
cancer cells more efficiently than AxCAUP, a nonreplicative adenovirus carrying the UPRT gene. Whereas AxCAUP and AxE1AdB, a CRAd without the UPRT gene, modestly increased the sensitivity of BC cells to
5-FU, AxE1CAUP markedly increased the sensitivity, especially when the timing of
5-FU administration was appropriately chosen. AxE1CAUP replicated much less efficiently in normal WI-38 fibroblasts without any change in the sensitivity to
5-FU. In nude mice with s.c. biliary
cancer xenografts, i.t. AxE1CAUP/5-FU
therapy inhibited
tumor growth significantly more strongly than AxCAUP/5-FU or AxE1AdB/5-FU
therapy. Furthermore, in mice with peritoneally disseminated biliary
cancer, i.p. AxE1CAUP efficiently proliferated in the
tumors, decreased the
tumor burden, and prolonged the survival of the mice when
5-FU was started 10 or 15 days after the vector inoculation, whereas earlier initiation of
5-FU resulted in early eradication of the vector and no survival benefit. The present study shows that the CRAd expressing UPRT was a more potent sensitizer of biliary
cancer to
5-FU, than was a nonreplicative UPRT-encoding vector or a CRAd without UPRT gene, even at a lower dose of the vector, and that timing of
5-FU administration was a key factor to maximize the efficacy. This gene therapy with appropriately timed administration of
5-FU should be useful in overcoming the resistance of biliary
cancers to
5-FU.