Recombinant sTRAIL induces cell death of tumor cell lines as well as primary cancer cells

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is a new member of TNF family. It was reported that TRAIL could induce apoptosis of tumor cells but not normal cells in tissue culture system. To further study the biological activity and potential clinical significance, a recombinant soluble TRAIL (rsTRAIL) has been expressed stably inE. coli after transformation of pET28b vector containing the extracellular domain of TRAIL. The yield of rsTRAIL is approximately as high as 60% of whole bacterial proteins. The rsTRAIL, purified by Ni⁺-agarose affinity chromatography, could remarkably trigger apoptosis at the concentrations of 0.1–1 μg/mL in all 7 tumor cell lines testedin vitro. However, this killing activtty has not been observed in mouse fibroblast cell line (NIH3T3) as normal control. Further investigation shows that the rsTRAIL could also kill primary tumor cells isolated freshly from patients with cardiac cancer, breast cancer and malignant thymoma, while the normal human peripheral blood lymphocytes are not killed under the same conditions. These results provide new evidence that rsTRAlL could induce apoptosis of tumor cells specifically and it could be a new promising medicine for tumor therapy.