Abstract: Objective: To investigate the inhibition function of gene recombinant plasmid pDC316-hIL-24 on human cervical cancer nude mice model tumor growth. Methods: Cervical cancer Hela cells were injected in a 1×107 cell/L concentration into the central lateral subcutaneous of the left armpit of nude mice of 5 weeks age. Construction of nude mice model of human cervical cancer. The 15 nude mice were randomly divided into 3 groups, and recombinant plasmids（group A） or empty plasmids（group B） as well as PBS（group C） were injected into transplanted tumor with Lipofectamine 2000 to interfere with the growth of transplanted tumor. Comparison of tumor volume and inhibitory rate after the intervention, determination of hIL-24 expression in transplanted tumor by RT-PCR, observation of morphological changes of tumor tissues in each group by HE staining and as well as immunohistochemistry was employed for investigating tumor cell apoptosis in each group. Results: ⑴ After transfection IL-24 gene was successfully transfected into tumor cells and has been successfully expressed in tumor cells. To the end of the experiment, group C and group B tumor volume was significantly greater than group A（F =63.395, P <0.05）. The average inhibition rate of group A was significantly higher than group B（t =130.920, P <0.01）. ⑵ Pathological observation shows in group A cervical cancer cells have focal necrosis and cells become large, and loose cytoplasm, nucleus deeply stained, pyknosis, nuclear dissolution, nuclear fragmentation, chromatin lumps also can be found. ⑶ Immunohistochemistry showed that, compared with the other two groups, group A proto-oncogene BCL-2 expression was lower than the other two groups（F=6.164, P <0.05）, but its homologous protein BAX expression was higher than the other two groups （F=58.426, P <0.05）. Conclusion: Recombinant plasmid pDC316-hIL-24 has significant inhibition function on human cervical cancer nude mice model tumor growth. IL-24 may activate apoptosis or anti-apoptosis pathway to induce tumor cell nuclear condensation, fragmentation and apoptosis.

Key words: IL-24, Gene recombinant plasmid, Ccervical cancer, Nude mouse transplanted tumor model, Tumor growth inhibition