Interferon-β-armed oncolytic adenovirus induces both apoptosis and necroptosis in cancer cells.

Interferon-β (IFN-β) has been widely used in cancer therapy, but the clinical trial results are generally disappointing. Our previous studies have shown that an oncolytic adenovirus carrying IFN-β (ZD55-IFN-β) exhibits significant anti-tumor activities. However, the underlying mechanisms are not clear. Here we showed that ZD55-IFN-β infection-induced S-phase cell cycle arrest in a p53-dependent manner by activating the ataxia telangiectasia mutated-dependent DNA damage pathway. In addition, ZD55-IFN-β infection could initiate both caspase-dependent apoptosis and necroptosis in cancer cells. More importantly, ZD55-IFN-β showed a synergistic effect on cancer cells when combined with doxorubicin. These results suggest that the combination of ZD55-IFN-β with doxorubicin may represent a promising clinical strategy in cancer therapy.