Purpose: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of carbon-beam irradiation on adenovirus-mediated p53 transfer in human cervix adenocarcinoma.
Materials and methods: The HeLa cells pre-exposed to carbon-beam or gamma-ray, were infected with replication-deficient adenovirus recombinant vectors, containing human wild-type p53 (AdCMV-p53) and green fluorescent protein (GFP) (AdCMV-GFP), respectively. The GFP transfer and p53 expression were detected by flow cytometric analysis.
Results: The GFP transfer frequency in C-beam with AdCMV-GFP groups was 38-50% more than that in gamma-ray with AdCMV-GFP groups. The percentage of p53 positive cells in the C-beam with AdCMV-p53 groups was 34-55.6% more than that in gamma-ray with AdCMV-p53 groups (p < 0.05), suggesting that subclinical-dose C-beam irradiation could significantly promote exogenous p53 transfer and p53 expression, and extend the duration of p53 expression in the HeLa cells. The expression of p21 increased with p53 expression in HeLa cells. The survival fractions for the 0.5-1.0 Gy C-beam with AdCMV-p53 groups were 38-43% less than those for the isodose gamma-ray with AdCMV-p53 groups, and 31-40% less than those for the C-beam only groups (p < 0.05).
Conclusions: The subclinical-dose C-beam irradiation could significantly promote the transfer and expression of exogenous p53, extend the duration of p53 expression, and enhance the suppression of p53 on cervix adenocarcinoma cells.