Adenovirus with p16 gene exerts antitumor effect on laryngeal carcinoma Hep2 cells

Laryngeal cancer is an uncommon form of cancer. The tumor suppressor P16, known to be mutated or deleted in various types of human tumor, including laryngeal carcinoma, is involved in the formation and development of laryngeal carcinoma. It has been previously reported that the inactivation or loss of P16 is associated with the acquisition of malignant characteristics. The current study hypothesized that restoring wild-type P16 activity into P16-null malignant Hep2 cells may exert an antitumor effect. A recombinant adenovirus carrying the P16 gene (Ad-P16) was used to infect and express high levels of P16 protein in P16-null Hep2 cells. Cell proliferation and invasion assays and polymerase chain reaction were performed to evaluate the effects of the P16 gene on cell proliferation and the antitumor effect on Hep2 cells. The results demonstrated that the Hep2 cells infected with Ad-P16 exhibited significantly reduced cell proliferation, invasion and tumor volume compared with untreated or control adenovirus cells. Furthermore, the expression of laryngeal carcinoma-associated genes, EGFR, survivin and cyclin D1, were measured in Ad-P16-infected cells and were significantly reduced compared with control groups. The results of the current study demonstrate that restoring wild-type P16 activity into P16-null Hep2 cells exerts an antitumor effect.