Objective: To study the effect of interleukin-2 (IL-2) gene transfer on the proliferation and morphology of ovarian cancer cell line SKOV3.
Method: IL-2 gene was introduced into ovarian cancer cell line SKOV3. The morphologic changes, mitosis, proliferation curve, 3H-uptaking and cell cycle were studied.
Results: IL-2 cDNA, 490 bp, was transduced. IL-2 gene expression was detected. IL-2 activity was 30-318 U/10(6) cells/24hr. IL-2 gene modified cell is squamas like with smaller nucleus/cytoplasm ratio, larger cell area and more homogeneous. The ultrastructural study showed that the cytoplasma of IL-2 gene modified cells is markedly vacuolized and the chromatin is condensed. There was less mitosis found in SKOV3/IL-2 cells. SKOV3/IL-2 cell proliferate more slowly, the doubling time prolonged from 38.40 hr to 65.36 hr, 3H-uptaking decreased 52.3% of the parent cell. The cell cycle study showed that SKOV3/IL-2 cell was blocked to phase G1/G0.
Conclusions: The retrovirous vector can transduce Il-2 gene into ovarian cancer cell line SKOV3 effectly. IL-2 gene transfer can induce morphologic changes of SKOV3 cells, which may indicate the biologic behavior changes of the targets. IL-2 gene transfer can induce the proliferation inhibition of SKOV3 cells.