Positron emission tomography imaging for herpes virus infection: Implications for oncolytic viral treatments of cancer Journal Article


Authors: Bennett, J. J.; Tjuvajev, J.; Johnson, P.; Doubrovin, M.; Akhurst, T.; Malhotra, S.; Hackman, T.; Balatoni, J.; Finn, R.; Larson, S. M.; Federoff, H.; Blasberg, R.; Fong, Y.
Article Title: Positron emission tomography imaging for herpes virus infection: Implications for oncolytic viral treatments of cancer
Abstract: Molecular therapy using viruses would benefit greatly from a non-invasive modality for assessing dissemination of viruses. Here we investigated whether positron emission tomography (PET) scanning using [124I]-5-iodo-2′-fluoro-1-β-D-arabinofuranosyl-uracil (FIAU) could image cells infected with herpes simplex viruses (HSV). Using replication-competent HSV-1 oncolytic viruses with thymidine kinase (TK) under control of different promoters, we demonstrate that viral infection, proliferation and promoter characteristics all interact to influence FIAU accumulation and imaging. In vivo, as few as 1 × 107 viral particles injected into a 0.5-cm human colorectal tumor can be detected by [124I]FIAU PET imaging. PET signal intensity is significantly greater at 48 hours compared with that at 8 hours after viral injection, demonstrating that PET scanning can detect changes in TK activity resulting from local viral proliferation. We also show the ability of FIAU-PET scanning to detect differences in viral infectivity at 0.5 log increments. Non-invasive imaging might be useful in assessing biologically relevant distribution of virus in therapies using replication-competent HSV.
Keywords: human tissue; positron emission tomography; neoplasms; colorectal cancer; tumor cells, cultured; enzyme activity; gene therapy; oncolytic virus; arabinofuranosyluracil; fialuridine; thymidine kinase; herpesvirus 1, human; virus replication; biological therapy; herpes simplex virus 1; autoradiography; tomography, emission-computed; antiviral agents; virogenesis; herpes virus infection; virus infectivity; promoter regions (genetics); humans; human; priority journal; article
Journal Title: Nature Medicine
Volume: 7
Issue: 7
ISSN: 1078-8956
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group  
Date Published: 2001-07-01
Start Page: 859
End Page: 863
Language: English
DOI: 10.1038/89991
PUBMED: 11433353
PROVIDER: scopus
DOI/URL:
Notes: Export Date: 21 May 2015 -- Source: Scopus
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MSK Authors
  1. Juri Gelovani
    125 Gelovani
  2. Ronald G Blasberg
    272 Blasberg
  3. Ronald D Finn
    279 Finn
  4. Joseph J Bennett
    19 Bennett
  5. Yuman Fong
    775 Fong
  6. Timothy J Akhurst
    139 Akhurst
  7. Steven M Larson
    959 Larson