Synergistic Effect of NF-κB Signaling Pathway Inhibitor and Oncolytic 
Measles Virus Vaccine Strain against Lung Cancer and Underlying Mechanisms

Abstract

Background and objective Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related morbidity and mortality. Oncolytic virotherapy is an emerging therapeutic modality that utilizes replication-competent viruses to destroy cancers. As a powerful tool to kill tumor cells with excellent safety profile, attenuated measles virus of the Edmonston strain (MV-Edm) has been widely applied in the development of tumor therapy and preclinical trials. The aim of this study was to investigate the synergistic effect of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) signaling pathway inhibitor and oncolytic measles virus vaccine against lung cancer and the involved mechanisms. Methods Using Western blot to detect MV-Edm infection of A549 and H1299 were infected by MV-Edm alone or used the NF-κB pathway inhibitor PS1145/cell autophagy related siRNA, expression level of p-IκBα, IκBα, PARP and BAX were determined by western blot. Using flow cytometry to analysis the rate of apoptosis, and using MTT [3-(4,5)-dimethylthiahiazo(-z-y1)-3,5-di-phenytetrazoliumromide] method to detect the cell survival rate. Results Inhibition of cell autophagy could obviously inhibit the MV-Edm infection induced the NF-κB pathway activation in A549 and H1299. In MV-Edm infected A549 and H1299, p-IκBα level increased and IκBα level decreased over infection time, compared with control group. Inhibition of the NF-κB pathway by PS1145 could promote the apoptosis of MV-Edm infected A549 and H1299 and amplify the tumor killing effect. Conclusion The combination of NF-κB signaling pathway inhibitor pS1145 and oncolytic measles virus vaccine strains can promote the apoptosis of human lung cancer cells A549 and H1299 and enhance their oncolytic effect.

Keywords

• oncolytic measles virus vaccine strain
• autophagy
• nf-κb pathway
• apoptosis