OBJECTIVETo explore the changes of anticancer efficiency of 5'-deoxy-5-fluorouridine (5'-DFUR) and 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu) in colorectal cancer cell line HT29 and LS174T cells after transfection of thymidine phosphorylase (TP) cDNA with a lentiviral vector.

METHODSTP cDNA was transfected into human colorectal cancer cell lines HT29 and LS174T with the lentiviral vector pLenti6.3-MCS-IRES2-EGFP, and the transfection efficiency of the two cell lines passed 5 generations was analyzed by flow cytometry. The expression of TP protein and the relative quantitative expression of TP mRNA in these 2 cell lines were detected by Western blot and RT-PCR, respectively. The 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 5'-DFUR and 5-Fu in both HT29 and LS174T parent cells and TP-transfected cells were assessed by MTS assay. Finally, the concentration of converted 5-Fu was detected by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) either in the medium containing a series of concentrations of 5'-DFUR, in which HT29/HT29-TP or LS174T/LS174T-TP cells were cultured, or in the cell culture lysates.

RESULTSThe HT29 and LS174T cells transfected with human TP cDNA were monitored for 5 generations, and their transfection efficiency was about 95.0%. Immunohistochemical staining showed that both the parent cells and TP-transfected HT29 and LS174T cells were TP-positive, while vector-transfected cells were TP-negative. Western blotting showed that the TP protein expression in HT29-TP and LS174T-TP cells were significantly increased compared with that in their parents cells. The relative quantity (RQ) values of TP mRNA in HT29-TP and LS174T-TP cells were 8.45 ± 0.15 and 2 615.02 ± 253.97, respectively, which were significantly higher than that in their parents cells (P < 0.01). The IC50 values of 5'-DFUR on HT29-TP cells and its parents cell were (14.33 ± 0.74) µmol/L and (707.66 ± 5.66) µmol/L, respectively (P < 0.05), while (0.59 ± 0.11) µmol/L in LS174T-TP cells and (239.20 ± 21.83) µmol/L in its parent cells, respectively (P < 0.05). The IC50 values of 5-Fu of HT29-TP cells and its parents cells were (5.42 ± 0.75) µmol/L and (14.19 ± 0.97) µmol/L, respectively (P < 0.05), while (4.41 ± 0.96)µmol/L in LS174T-TP cells and (16.42 ± 2.12)µmol/L in its parents cells, respectively (P < 0.05). The HPLC results showed that the 5-Fu concentration detected from media contained a series of concentrations of 5'-DFUR for culturing HT29-TP and LS174T-TP cells were 12.2 to 28.7-folds and 13.1 to 23.6-folds, respectively, higher than that in their parents cells, (P < 0.01 for all). Otherwise, just a little of 5-Fu was detected in the two TP-transfected cells lysate, about 0.9% to 4.2% of 5-Fu detected in the media of the same cultured cells, whereas no 5-Fu was detected in the two parent cell lysates.

CONCLUSIONSTransfection of TP cDNA into colorectal cancer cell lines HT29 and LS174T with lentiviral vector can improve the expression of both TP mRNA and TP protein levels in passaged cells, enhance the conversion of 5-Fu from 5'-DFUR in the medium, and result in an enhanced anticancer effect on these two cell lines.