Research Papers:
Hypoxia-targeted 131I therapy of hepatocellular cancer after systemic mesenchymal stem cell-mediated sodium iodide symporter gene delivery
Metrics: PDF 2159 views | HTML 2228 views | ?
Abstract
Andrea M. Müller1, Kathrin A. Schmohl1, Kerstin Knoop1, Christina Schug1, Sarah Urnauer1, Anna Hagenhoff2, Dirk-André Clevert3, Michael Ingrisch3, Hanno Niess4, Janette Carlsen5, Christian Zach5, Ernst Wagner6, Peter Bartenstein5, Peter J. Nelson2, Christine Spitzweg1
1Department of Internal Medicine II, University Hospital of Munich, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany
2Clinical Biochemistry Group, Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik IV, University Hospital of Munich, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany
3Department of Clinical Radiology, University Hospital of Munich, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany
4Department of General, Visceral, Transplantation, Vascular and Thoracic Surgery, University Hospital of Munich, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany
5Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital of Munich, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany
6Department of Pharmacy, Center of Drug Research, Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany
Correspondence to:
Christine Spitzweg, email: [email protected]
Keywords: hypoxia-targeting, sodium iodide symporter, mesenchymal stem cells, hepatocellular carcinoma, gene therapy
Received: April 25, 2016 Accepted: July 10, 2016 Published: July 21, 2016
ABSTRACT
Adoptively transferred mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) home to solid tumors. Biologic features within the tumor environment can be used to selectively activate transgenes in engineered MSCs after tumor invasion. One of the characteristic features of solid tumors is hypoxia. We evaluated a hypoxia-based imaging and therapy strategy to target expression of the sodium iodide symporter (NIS) gene to experimental hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) delivered by MSCs.
MSCs engineered to express transgenes driven by a hypoxia-responsive promoter showed robust transgene induction under hypoxia as demonstrated by mCherry expression in tumor cell spheroid models, or radioiodide uptake using NIS. Subcutaneous and orthotopic HCC xenograft mouse models revealed significant levels of perchlorate-sensitive NIS-mediated tumoral radioiodide accumulation by tumor-recruited MSCs using 123I-scintigraphy or 124I-positron emission tomography. Functional NIS expression was further confirmed by ex vivo 123I-biodistribution analysis. Administration of a therapeutic dose of 131I in mice treated with NIS-transfected MSCs resulted in delayed tumor growth and reduced tumor perfusion, as shown by contrast-enhanced sonography, and significantly prolonged survival of mice bearing orthotopic HCC tumors. Interestingly, radioiodide uptake into subcutaneous tumors was not sufficient to induce therapeutic effects. Our results demonstrate the potential of using tumor hypoxia-based approaches to drive radioiodide therapy in non-thyroidal tumors.
All site content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
PII: 10758