Abstract:
PURPOSE: A recombinant adenovirus containing a trans-splicing ribozyme targeting tissue-specific promoter and a cancer-specific gene is provided to ensure improved treatment efficiency for gene target tissue and to be used as an anticancer drug or a cancer diagnosis agent. CONSTITUTION: A recombinant adenovirus contains: a tissue-specific promoter; a trans-splicing ribozyme which is operably linked to the promoter; and a therapeutic gene linked to a 3'-exon of ribozyme or a reporter gene. A cancer-specific gene is hTERT[human Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase] mRNA[messenger RNA], AFP[alphafetoprotein] mRNA, CEA[carcinoembryonic antigen] mRNA, PSA[Prostate-specific antigen] mRNA, or CKAP2[Cytoskeleton-associated protein 2] mRNA. The ribozyme is a trans-splicing group I ribozyme which specifically targets hTERT mRNA. A pharmaceutical composition for anticancer drugs contains the recombinant adenovirus as an active ingredient. A method for imaging cancer comprises: a step of introducing the recombinant adenovirus to cancer cells; and a step of detecting a reporter protein in the cancer cells.