BACKGROUND: The development of efficient and specific vector systems remains a central issue in gene therapy. Several different adeno-associated virus (AAV) serotypes have so far been characterized so far which show different tissue tropisms. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The vectors used here contained AAV2 transgene cassette containing green fluorescent protein (GFP) in AAV1, AAV2, or AAV5 capsids, producing the recombinant pseudotypes rAAV2/1, rAAV2/2, and rAAV2/5. The transduction efficiency of the different pseudotyped AAV vectors was tested in vitro in pancreatic and colon cancer cells lines (HT-29, BXPC3, and Hs766T). RESULTS: For all three serotypes, the percentage of GFP-positive cells was below 10% at multiplicities of infection (MOI) 100 rAAV vectors when used alone for infection. However, transduction efficiency for rAAV vectors increased dramatically when the cells were co-infected with wild-type adenovirus (wtAd). The percentage of GFP-positive cells ranged from 19.8-65.3% for AAV2/1 and 16.9-70.2% for AAV2/5, respectively. It was highest for rAAV2/2, at 40.9-88.4%. Variation between the cell lines was observed, with BXPC3 scoring the highest transduction rates and HT-29 the lowest. CONCLUSION: This study indicates that vectors based on distinct AAV serotypes 1, 2, and 5 all transduce pancreatic and colon cell lines poorly when used alone. Co-infection with wtAd increase transduction rates dramatically indicating that slow second-strand synthesis is a reason for the poor transduction efficiency. Due to the poor transduction rates, none of the rAAV serotypes tested here seem to be feasible for the treatment of malignant tumors.


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