Ectopic expression of H-1 parvovirus NS1 protein induces alterations in actin filaments and cell death in human normal MRC-5 and transformed MRC-5 SV2 cells.

When grown in human cell lines, oncolytic H-1 parvovirus (H-1PV) replication preferentially occurs in transformed cells, which ultimately die upon infection. H-1PV-induced cytotoxicity is mainly due to P4 promoter-driven NS1 protein expression. Infection of untransformed cells generally does not induce deleterious effects because the P4 promoter is not activated.

Parvovirus H-1 induces cytopathic effects in breast carcinoma-derived cultures.

Parvovirus H-1 (H-1 PV) preferentially replicates in malignant cells resulting in their death by cytolysis. It has often been considered a potential candidate for use in novel anticancer therapy. To evaluate its potential in a model of natural tumors, we assayed in vitro the effect exerted by H-1 PV on short-term cultures derived from breast tumor samples freshly excised from patients.