Based on these studies, we argue that local IFN-beta gene therapy with replication-defective adenoviral vectors might be an effective treatment for some solid tumors.
In our previous study on liposome-mediated transfection of the human interferon-beta (HuIFN-beta) gene into subcutaneously implanted human gliomas in nude mice, we found that HuIFN-beta was produced and secreted by the tumor cells and that the growth of solid tumors was completely inhibited.
This finding adds solid tumors to those tumor cell lines (acute lymphocytic leukemia, chronic myelogeneous leukemia) previously determined to lack the IFNA and IFNB genes (Diaz et al., Proc.Natl.Acad.Sci.USA, 85:5259-5263, 1988).