Chemosensitization of bladder cancer cells by survivin-directed antisense oligodeoxynucleotides and siRNA.

Survivin is known to be overexpressed in numerous tumor types including human bladder cancer and to cause resistance to radiation and chemotherapy. Therefore, we tested the antisense oligodeoxynucleotide AS-SVV286 and the small interfering RNA si-SVV284 to down-regulate survivin in the BCa cell lines EJ28 and 5637 thereby acting as sensitizers for chemotherapy. Pretreatment with these inhibitors followed by chemotherapy caused an enhanced decrease in cell viability.

Chemosensitization of bladder cancer cell lines by human telomerase reverse transcriptase antisense treatment.

Purpose: Responses of transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder (TCC) to commonly used chemotherapy agents such as mitomycin C (MMC), cisplatin and gemcitabine are often disappointing. Since human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) is tumor specifically expressed and contributes to the immortality and malignancy of the majority of tumors, it is regarded as a suitable antitumor target. We investigated whether combinations of hTERT antisense (AS)-oligonucleotides (ODNs) with common chemotherapy (CT) schedules may improve drug mediated antitumor effects.

siRNA-mediated down-regulation of survivin inhibits bladder cancer cell growth.

Survivin is recognized as a general target in cancer therapy because of its selective overexpression in the majority of tumors. In bladder cancer (BCa), its expression correlates with tumor grade, recurrence risk and survival. In this study, we compared the therapeutic efficiency of two survivin specific small interfering RNA (siRNA) constructs, SVV284 and SVV094, to inhibit the growth of five human BCa cell lines (EJ28, 5637, J82, RT112, RT4).

Systematic in vitro evaluation of survivin directed antisense oligodeoxynucleotides in bladder cancer cells.

Purpose: The rather poor responses to conventional treatment for bladder cancer (BCa) require novel, specific therapy approaches. The down-regulation of BCa associated genes may represent a new option to inhibit specifically BCa cell growth and induce cell death. Survivin, an apoptosis inhibitor that is up-regulated in the majority of malignancies, including BCa, provides an attractive target for molecular therapies, such as treatment with specific antisense oligode-oxynucleotides (AS-ODNs).