Oncolytic Newcastle disease virus enhanced apoptosis in colorectal cancer cell lines

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a deadly disease with a high prevalence and mortality rate worldwide. Previous investigations have shown that Newcastle disease virus (NDV) exhibits oncolytic activity and antitumor immunostimulation properties on several types of tumor cells but not normal cells. This study aims to examine NDV oncolytic activity against two kinds of human CRC cell lines, i.e., HCT116 and SW620, as well as its ability to induce apoptosis. The results showed that CRC cell lines were susceptible to NDV LaSota strain and the mechanism of death was due to caspase-dependent pathways apoptosis, followed by interferon signaling competence. NDV-induced proinflammatory cytokines in CRC cells might have contributed to apoptosis mechanism. Therefore, further investigation is recommended, using the findings obtained in this study as a basis for an animal CRC model.