EFFECTS OF IN VIVO GENE TRANSDUCTION OF ANTI-MDR1 RIBOZYME IN COMBINATION WITH CHEMOTHERAPY ON MULTIDRUG-RESISTANT HUMAN LYMPHOMA GROWTH IN MICE

Objective: To study the effect of adenovirus- mediated transfer of anti-MDR1 ribozyme on the reversal of multidrug resistant (MDR) phenotype of P-glycoprotein (P-gp)-positive Daudi human Burkitt lymphoma both in vitro and in vivo. Methods: A recombinant adenovirus expressing 196Rz (Adv-196Rz) was developed and functionally evaluated. SCID mice inoculated subcutaneously (s.c.) with 5?06 Daudi/MDR20 cells were locally treated with Adv-196Rz or mock virus (Adv-Mock) at the multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 400 PFU once a day for 3 consecutive days. Then the mice were intraperitoneally (i.p.) administrated with vincristine (VCR) 450ng/g for 5 consecutive days. Results: In vitro employment of Adv-196Rz was able to interrupt MDR1 transcription, to inhibit P-gp expression and to restore drug sensitivity to VCR of Daudi/MDR20 cells. In vivo, 87.5% (7/8) of Daudi/MDR20-inoculated mice treated with Adv-Mock+ VCR developed palpable tumor by the 6th week and died or were sacrificed (because of tumor weight > 10% of body weight) by the 11th week. In contrast, among 9 Daudi/MDR20-inoculated mice treated with Adv-196Rz + VCR, only 3 developed tumor by the 11th, 13th and 14th week, respectively. 66.7% of mice survived >120 days in tumor-free. The survival difference between the two groups was very significant (P<0.01). Conclusion: Adenovirus- mediated Transfer of 196Rz can revert drug resistance of MDR tumor cells both in vitro and in vivo. Adv-196Rz may prove useful as an adjuvant in the chemotherapy of P-gp mediated MDR human tumors.

Construction of Multi-ribozyme Expression System and Its Characterization of Cleavage on the MDR1/MRP1 Double Target Substrate in vitro

To improve catalytic activity of ribozyme on its substrate, the multi-ribozyme expression system was designed and constructed from 20 cis-acting hammerhead ribozymes undergoing self-cleavage with 10 trans-acting hammerhead ribozymes inserted alternatively regularly and the plasmid of pGEM-MDR1/MRP1 used to transcribe the MDR1/MRPl（196/210） substrate containing double target sites was also constructed by DNA recombination. Endonuclease digestion analysis and DNA sequencing indicate all the recombinant plasmids were correct. The clea- vage activities were evaluated for the multi-ribozyme expression system on the MDR1/MRP1 substrate in the cell free system. The results demonstrate that the cis-acting hammerhead ribozymes in the multi-ribozyme expression system were able to cleave themselves and the 72 nt of 196Rz and the 71 nt of 210Rz trans-acting hammerhead ribozymes were liberated effectively, and the trans-acting hammerhead ribozymes released were able to act on the MDR1/MRP1 double target RNA substrate and cleave the target RNA at specific sites effectively. The multi- ribozyme expression system of the [Coat＇A196Rz/Coat＇B210Rz]5 is more significantly superior to that of the [Coat＇A 196Rz/Coat＇B210Rz] 1 in cleavage of RNA substrate. The fractions cleaved by [Coat＇A 196Rz/Coat＇B210Rz]5 on the MDR1/MRP1 substrate for 8 h at observed temperatures showed no marked difference. The studies of Mg^2＋ on cleavage efficiency indicate that cleavage reaction is dependent on Mg^2＋ ions concentration. The plot of lg（kobs） vs. lgc（Mg^2＋） displays a linear relationship between 2.5 mmol/L and 20 mmol/L Mg^2＋. It suggests that Mg^2＋ ions play a crucial role in multi-ribozyme cleavage on the substrate.

Construction and Cleavage Characterization of Single Targeted Multi-ribozyme Expression Systems in vitro

In order to clarify cleavage efficiency of a multi-ribozyme expression system on their substrates,plasmids containing 20 cis-acting hammerhead ribozymes for self-cleavage and 10 trans-acting hammerhead ribozymes targeted on MDR1 and MRP1 substrates,the target plasmids pGEM-MDR1 and pGEM-MRP1 were constructed by employing PCR and DNA recombination.The endonuclease＇s digestion and DNA sequencing confirmed exactness of the multi-ribozyme expression systems and the target plasmids.The repeated self-cleavage tests revealed that the cisacting hammerhead ribozymes in the multi-ribozyme expression system were able to cleave themselves and trans-acting hammerhead ribozymes 196 Rz and 210 Rz were released.The cleavage efficiencies of liberated ribozymes on their targets were evaluated in vitro and the results indicate that 196 Rz and 210 Rz were able to cleave the MDR1 and MRP1 RNA substrates.The profile of cleavage reaction shows that the cleavage efficiencies were correlated with the numbers of transacting hammerhead ribozymes contained in the multi-ribozyme expression systems,as well as the multi-ribozyme system is much better than the single ribozyme.Test of various concentrations of Mg^2＋ reveals that ribozyme cleavage reactions were dependent on Mg^2＋ concentration.The plot of lg（kobs） vs.lg[Mg^2＋] displays a linear relationship in the concentration range observed（2.5―20 mmol/L）.