SPECT/CT Imaging of hNIS - Expression after Intravenous Delivery of an Oncolytic Adenovirus and I-131

: Rajecki M, Sarparanta M, Hakkarainen T, Tenhunen M, Diaconu I, Kuhmonen V, Kairemo K, Kanerva A, Airaksinen AJ, Hemminki A

Publisher: PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE

: 2012

: PLoS ONE

: PLOS ONE

: ARTN e32871

: 7

: 3

: 9

: 1932-6203

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0032871

Oncolytic adenoviruses can be engineered for better tumor selectivity, gene delivery and be armed for imaging and concentrating radionuclides into tumors for synergistic oncolysis. We constructed Ad5/3-hTERT-hNIS where replication is controlled by hTERT-promoter. Ad5/3-hTERT-hNIS expresses hNIS for imaging of transgene expression and for treatment of infected tumors by radioiodine. Ad5/3-hTERT-hNIS efficiently killed prostate cancer cells and induced iodine uptake in vitro and in vivo after intratumoral virus administration. Survival of mice treated with intravenous Ad5/3-hTERT-hNIS significantly prolonged survival over mock or radioiodine only but the combination of virus with radioiodine was not more effective than virus alone. Temporal and spatial changes in hNIS-expression during therapy were detected with SPECT, demonstrating feasibility of evaluation of the combination therapy with hNIS-expressing adenoviruses and radioiodide.