ARTICLE

Cell Research, 15(10):770-776, October 2005

Systemic delivery of full-length C/EBPb / liposome complex suppresses growth of human colon cancer in nude mice

Li SUN, Bei Bei FU, Ding Gan LIU^*

State Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China

Received, Jun 7, 2005; Revised, Aug 29, 2005; Accepted, Oct 15 ,2005

Correspondence: Ding Gan LIU Tel: +86-21-54921135; Fax: +86-21-54921011; E-mail:dgliu@sibs.ac.cn

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C/EBPb (CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein b) is an important transcription factor involved in cellular proliferation and differentiation. Overexpression of the full-length C/EBPb protein results in cellular growth arrest and apoptosis. Using a nonviral liposome as carrier, we delivered the full-length C/EBPb expression plasmid, pCN, into nude mice bearing CW-2 human colon cancer tumors via tail vein. Southern blots revealed that the major organs and tumors were transfected. Experimental gene therapy showed that a strong suppression of tumor growth was observed in the pCN-treated mice, and such suppression was due to the overexpression of C/EBPb, leading to the increased apoptosis in tumors of pCN-treated mice. No apparent toxic effects of pCN/liposome complex were observed in the animals. Thus, C/EBPb has tumor suppression effect in vivo and may be used in gene therapy for cancers.

Keywords: tumor supression, C/EBPb, colon cancer, apoptosis.