Applying the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase/ganciclovir approach to ovarian cancer: an effective in vitro drug-sensitization system

Ovarian cancer is a major clinical problem with no rewarding treatment protocol currently available. In other malignancies transfer of the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-tk) gene into tumor cells using a viral vector followed by administration of ganciclovir (GCV) provides a potentially effective strategy for treatment. In this work human ovarian epithelial cancer cell lines were infected with a recombinant adenoviral vector expressing the HSV-tk (AdRSV-tk) and were rendered sensitive to doses of GCV that were 100-200 times less than for untransfected cells. A strong bystander effect was noted with significant killing at a ratio of infected:uninfected cells of only 1:20 and maximal killing at 1:3. Normal human ovarian surface epithelial cells were also highly sensitive to the AdRSV-tk/GCV system. This study demonstrates the potential efficacy of the HSV-tk/GCV approach in ovarian cancer gene therapy.