In vitro and in vivo delivery of novel anticancer fusion protein MULT1E/FasTI via adenoviral vectors.

We previously demonstrated that a novel fusion protein MULT1E/FasTI expressed by TC-1 tumor cells inhibited tumor growth by simultaneously activating NKG2D expressing cells, such as NK cells, through the MULT1E portion and sending a death signal into cells through the Fas portion (Kotturi et al., Gene Therapy, 2008). In this study, an adenoviral gene delivery system was used to deliver this fusion protein. Our data indicate that adenoviral vector can efficiently deliver the MULT1E/FasTI fusion protein into TC-1 cells both in vitro and in vivo as assayed by RT-PCR, FACS analysis, caspase-3 activity and decreased in vivo tumor growth. This study further confirms that MULTE/FasTI represents a powerful bi-functional, therapeutic protein for the treatment of cancers.