Bactofection of sequences encoding a Bax protein peptide chemosensitizes prostate cancer tumor cells

• Main Authors: Marco Antonio Hernández-Luna (Author), Ricardo Díaz de León-Ortega (Author), Daniel Dimitri Hernández-Cueto (Author), Ricardo Gaxiola-Centeno (Author), Raúl Castro-Luna (Author), Leonel Martínez-Cristóbal (Author), Sara Huerta-Yépez (Author), Rosendo Luria-Pérez (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Permanyer, 2016-11-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 1665-1146; 10.1016/j.bmhimx.2016.10.002
• Keywords: Bactofection; Bax peptides; Salmonella; Cancer therapy; Pediatrics; RJ1-570; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270
• Source: Boletín Médico del Hospital Infantil de México, Vol 73, Iss 6, Pp 388-396 (2016)

Background: Tumor cell resistance to chemotherapy agents is one of the main problems in the eradication of different neoplasias. One of the mechanisms of this process is the overexpression of anti-apoptotic proteins such as Bcl-2 and Bcl-XL; blocking the activity of these proteins may contribute to the sensitization of tumor cells and allow the adequate effects of chemotherapeutic drugs. Methods and results: This study adressed the transfection of prostate cancer cells (PC3) with a plasmid encoding a recombinant protein with an antagonist peptide from the BH3 region of the Bax protein fused to the GFP reporter protein (BaxGFP). This protein induced apoptosis of these tumor cells; further, selective transport of this plasmid to the tumor cell with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (strain SL3261), a live-attenuated bacterial vector, can induce sensitization of the tumor cell to the action of drugs such as cisplatin, through a process known as bactofection. Conclusions: These results suggest that Salmonella enterica can be used as a carrier vector of nucleotide sequences encoding heterologous molecules used in antitumor therapy.