Wild type p53 gene transfer increases chemosensitivity and apoptotic response of PANC-1 pancreatic tumor cell line

The effect of p53 gene therapy on chemosensitivity and apoptotic response of PANC-1 tumor cells, which express high amount of mutant p53, to cancer chemotherapeutic agents of Etoposide and Doxorubicin was investigated. Comparison of the chemosensitivity of PANC-1 cells to its wild type p53 transfectants showed that wt-p53 expressing transfectants are more sensitive to both Etoposide and Doxorubucin. It further showed that neither the PANC1 cells nor its wild type p53 transfectants arrested at G1 in response to X-irradiation. Furthermore, treatment of both PANC-1 cells as well as its wt-p53 transfectants with etoposide resulted in apoptosis despite the difference in their p53 status, although, the number of apoptotic cells of the wt-p53 transfectants was higher compared to the control cells. This evidence reinforce the view that combining p53 gene therapy with conventional chemotherapeutic agents may yield a more beneficial response than conventional treatments alone in pancreatic tumor cells with high amount of mutant p53.