POSTERSvitro after the cells were treated with Ad.Luc, Ad.IL-24, Ad.Bax or Ad.IL-24-Bax.The mechanism involved was also explored.A model using nude mice with liver tumors was used to evaluate the adenovirus' effects on tumor volume and cell apoptosis in vivo.Results: Ad.IL-24-Bax selectively suppressed growth of hepatocellular carcinoma cells but had little influence on the growth of normal hepatocytes in vitro.Ad.IL-24-Bax induced apoptosis in the hepatocellular carcinoma cells but not in normal hepatocytes.The Ad.IL-24-Bax had an enhanced ability to induce apoptosis and inhibit hepatocellular carcinoma cell growth when compared to Ad.IL-24 or Ad.Bax alone.The mechanism of this response may include the effect of the 10HRE/VEGF385 promoter and the synergistic effect of IL-24 and Bax.Ad.IL-24-Bax also suppressed tumor growth in nude mice and induced apoptosis.Conclusion: Ad.IL-24-Bax may be a useful tool for gene therapy in the treatment of hepatic cancer in clinical applications.

Background and purpose: The general view on the pathogenesis of drug- induced idiosyncratic liver injury ( DILI) is that parent compounds are rendered hepatotoxic by metabolism, mainly by cytochrome ( CYP) 450, although other metabolic pathways can contribute. Anecdotal reports suggest a role of CYP 450 polymorphisms in DILI. We aimed to assess in a series of Spanish DILI patients the prevalence of important allelic variants of CYP2C9 and CYP2C19, known to be involved in the metabolism of several hepatotoxic drugs.Experimental approach: Genotyping of CYP2C9 (* 2, * 3) and CYP2C19 (* 2 and * 3), was carried out in a total of 28 and 32 patients with a well established diagnosis of DILI. CYP2C9 and CYP2C19 variants were analysed in genomic DNA by means of PCR-FRET and compared with previous findings in other Caucasian populations.Key results: CYP2C9 and CYP2C19 allele and genotype frequencies were in agreement with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Fourteen patients ( 50%) were heterozygous and 1(4%) found to be compound heterozygous for the CYP2C9 allele. Seven ( 22%) were found to carry one and 1( 3%) carried two CYP2C19 mutated alleles. No patients were homozygous for * 3 allele. The distribution of both CYP2C9 and CYP2C19 allelic variants in DILI patients were similar to those in other Caucasian populations. Patients with variant and those with wild- type alleles did not differ in regard to clinical presentation of DILI, type of injury and outcome.Conclusions and Implications: We find no evidence to support CYP2C9 and CYP2C19 genetic polymorphisms as predictable potential risk factors for DILI.