Oncolytic adenoviruses armed with thymidine kinase can be traced by PET imaging and show potent antitumoural effects by ganciclovir dosing

Development and application of oncolytic viruses as the nemesis of tumor cells

Viruses and tumors are two pathologies that negatively impact human health, but what occurs when a virus encounters a tumor? A global consensus among cancer patients suggests that surgical resection, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and other methods are the primary means to combat cancer. However, with the innovation and development of biomedical technology, tumor biotherapy (immunotherapy, molecular targeted therapy, gene therapy, oncolytic virus therapy, etc.) has emerged as an alternative treatment for malignant tumors. Oncolytic viruses possess numerous anti-tumor properties, such as directly lysing tumor cells, activating anti-tumor immune responses, and improving the tumor microenvironment. Compared to traditional immunotherapy, oncolytic virus therapy offers advantages including high killing efficiency, precise targeting, and minimal side effects. Although oncolytic virus (OV) therapy was introduced as a novel approach to tumor treatment in the 19th century, its efficacy was suboptimal, limiting its widespread application. However, since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first OV therapy drug, T-VEC, in 2015, interest in OV has grown significantly. In recent years, oncolytic virus therapy has shown increasingly promising application prospects and has become a major research focus in the field of cancer treatment. This article reviews the development, classification, and research progress of oncolytic viruses, as well as their mechanisms of action, therapeutic methods, and routes of administration.

Reporter Transgenes for Monitoring the Antitumor Efficacy of Recombinant Oncolytic Viruses

Accurate measurement of tumor size and margins is crucial for successful oncotherapy. In the last decade, non-invasive imaging modalities, including optical imaging using non-radioactive substrates, deep-tissue imaging with radioactive substrates, and magnetic resonance imaging have been developed. Reporter genes play the most important role among visualization tools; their expression in tumors and metastases makes it possible to track changes in the tumor growth and gauge therapy effectiveness. Oncolytic viruses are often chosen as a vector for delivering reporter genes into tumor cells, since oncolytic viruses are tumor-specific, meaning that they infect and lyse tumor cells without damaging normal cells. The choice of reporter transgenes for genetic modification of oncolytic viruses depends on the study objectives and imaging methods used. Optical imaging techniques are suitable for in vitro studies and small animal models, while deep-tissue imaging techniques are used to evaluate virotherapy in large animals and humans. For optical imaging, transgenes of fluorescent proteins, luciferases, and tyrosinases are used; for deep-tissue imaging, the most promising transgene is the sodium/iodide symporter (NIS), which ensures an accumulation of radioactive isotopes in virus-infected tumor cells. Currently, NIS is the only reporter transgene that has been shown to be effective in monitoring tumor virotherapy not only in preclinical but also in clinical studies.

Advances of Tumorigenesis, Diagnosis at Early Stage, and Cellular Immunotherapy in Gastrointestinal Malignancies

Globally, in 2018, 4.8 million new patients have a diagnosis of gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, while 3.4 million people died of such disorders. GI malignancies are tightly relevant to 26% of the world-wide cancer incidence and occupies 35% of all cancer-associated deaths. In this article, we principally investigated molecular and cellular mechanisms of tumorigenesis in five major GI cancers occurring at esophagus, stomach, liver, pancreas, and colorectal region that illustrate high morbidity in Eastern and Western countries. Moreover, through this investigation, we not only emphasize importance of the tumor microenvironment in development and treatment of malignant tumors but also identify significance of M2PK, miRNAs, ctDNAs, circRNAs, and CTCs in early detection of GI cancers, as well as systematically evaluate contribution of personalized precision medicine including cellular immunotherapy, new antigen and vaccine therapy, and oncolytic virotherapy in treatment of GI cancers.

The Oncolytic Virus in Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment

Cancer has always been an enormous threat to human health and survival. Surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy could improve the survival of cancer patients, but most patients with advanced cancer usually have a poor survival or could not afford the high cost of chemotherapy. The emergence of oncolytic viruses provided a new strategy for us to alleviate or even cure malignant tumors. An oncolytic virus can be described as a genetically engineered or naturally existing virus that can selectively replicate in cancer cells and then kill them without damaging the healthy cells. There have been many kinds of oncolytic viruses, such as herpes simplex virus, adenovirus, and Coxsackievirus. Moreover, they have different clinical applications in cancer treatment. This review focused on the clinical application of oncolytic virus and predicted the prospect by analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of oncolytic virotherapy.

The importance of imaging strategies for pre-clinical and clinical in vivo distribution of oncolytic viruses

Oncolytic viruses (OVs) are an emergent and unique therapy for cancer patients. Similar to chemo- and radiation therapy, OV can lyse (kill) cancer cell directly. In general, the advantages of OVs over other treatments are primarily: a higher safety profile (as shown by less adverse effects), ability to replicate, transgene(s) delivery, and stimulation of a host’s immune system against cancer. The latter has prompted successful use of OVs with other immunotherapeutic strategies in a synergistic manner. In spite of extended testing in pre-clinical and clinical setting, using biologically derived therapeutics like virus always raises potential concerns about safety (replication at non-intended locations) and bio-availability of the product. Recent advent in in vivo imaging techniques dramatically improves the convenience of use, quality of pictures, and amount of information acquired. Easy assessing of safety/localization of the biotherapeutics like OVs became a new potential weapon in the physician’s arsenal to improve treatment outcome. Given that OVs are typically replicating, in vivo imaging can also track virus replication and persistence as well as precisely mapping tumor tissues presence. This review discusses the importance of imaging in vivo in evaluating OV efficacy, as well as currently available tools and techniques.

Oncolytic Viruses for Tumor Precision Imaging and Radiotherapy

In 2003 in China, Peng et al. invented the recombinant adenovirus expressing p53 (Gendicine) for clinical tumor virotherapy. This was the first clinically approved gene therapy and tumor virotherapy drug in the world. An oncolytic herpes simplex virus expressing granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (Talimogene laherparepvec) was approved for melanoma treatment in the United States in 2015. Since then, oncolytic viruses have been attracting more and more attention in the field of oncology, and may become novel significant modalities of tumor precision imaging and radiotherapy after further improvement. Oncolytic viruses carrying reporter genes can replicate and express genes of interest selectively in tumor cells, thus improving in vivo noninvasive precision molecular imaging and radiotherapy. Here, the latest developments and molecular mechanisms of tumor imaging and radiotherapy using oncolytic viruses are reviewed, and perspectives are given for further research. Various types of tumors are discussed, and special attention is paid to gastrointestinal tumors.

Fighting Cancer with Mathematics and Viruses

After decades of research, oncolytic virotherapy has recently advanced to clinical application, and currently a multitude of novel agents and combination treatments are being evaluated for cancer therapy. Oncolytic agents preferentially replicate in tumor cells, inducing tumor cell lysis and complex antitumor effects, such as innate and adaptive immune responses and the destruction of tumor vasculature. With the availability of different vector platforms and the potential of both genetic engineering and combination regimens to enhance particular aspects of safety and efficacy, the identification of optimal treatments for patient subpopulations or even individual patients becomes a top priority. Mathematical modeling can provide support in this arena by making use of experimental and clinical data to generate hypotheses about the mechanisms underlying complex biology and, ultimately, predict optimal treatment protocols. Increasingly complex models can be applied to account for therapeutically relevant parameters such as components of the immune system. In this review, we describe current developments in oncolytic virotherapy and mathematical modeling to discuss the benefit of integrating different modeling approaches into biological and clinical experimentation. Conclusively, we propose a mutual combination of these research fields to increase the value of the preclinical development and the therapeutic efficacy of the resulting treatments.

Designing and building oncolytic viruses

Oncolytic viruses (OVs) are engineered and/or evolved to propagate selectively in cancerous tissues. They have a dual mechanism of action; direct killing of infected cancer cells cross-primes anticancer immunity to boost the killing of uninfected cancer cells. The goal of the field is to develop OVs that are easily manufactured, efficiently delivered to disseminated sites of cancer growth, undergo rapid intratumoral spread, selectively kill tumor cells, cause no collateral damage and pose no risk of transmission in the population. Here we discuss the many virus engineering strategies that are being pursued to optimize delivery, intratumoral spread and safety of OVs derived from different virus families. With continued progress, OVs have the potential to transform the paradigm of cancer care.

Codon optimization of the adenoviral fiber negatively impacts structural protein expression and viral fitness

Codon usage adaptation of lytic viruses to their hosts is determinant for viral fitness. In this work, we analyzed the codon usage of adenoviral proteins by principal component analysis and assessed their codon adaptation to the host. We observed a general clustering of adenoviral proteins according to their function. However, there was a significant variation in the codon preference between the host-interacting fiber protein and the rest of structural late phase proteins, with a non-optimal codon usage of the fiber. To understand the impact of codon bias in the fiber, we optimized the Adenovirus-5 fiber to the codon usage of the hexon structural protein. The optimized fiber displayed increased expression in a non-viral context. However, infection with adenoviruses containing the optimized fiber resulted in decreased expression of the fiber and of wild-type structural proteins. Consequently, this led to a drastic reduction in viral release. The insertion of an exogenous optimized protein as a late gene in the adenovirus with the optimized fiber further interfered with viral fitness. These results highlight the importance of balancing codon usage in viral proteins to adequately exploit cellular resources for efficient infection and open new opportunities to regulate viral fitness for virotherapy and vaccine development.

Oncolytic virotherapy for urological cancers

Oncolytic virotherapy is a cancer treatment in which replication-competent viruses are used that specifically infect, replicate in and lyse malignant tumour cells, while minimizing harm to normal cells. Anecdotal evidence of the effectiveness of this strategy has existed since the late nineteenth century, but advances and innovations in biotechnological methods in the 1980s and 1990s led to a renewed interest in this type of therapy. Multiple clinical trials investigating the use of agents constructed from a wide range of viruses have since been performed, and several of these enrolled patients with urological malignancies. Data from these clinical trials and from preclinical studies revealed a number of challenges to the effectiveness of oncolytic virotherapy that have prompted the development of further sophisticated strategies. Urological cancers have a range of distinctive features, such as specific genetic mutations and cell surface markers, which enable improving both effectiveness and safety of oncolytic virus treatments. The strategies employed in creating advanced oncolytic agents include alteration of the virus tropism, regulating transcription and translation of viral genes, combination with chemotherapy, radiotherapy or gene therapy, arming viruses with factors that stimulate the immune response against tumour cells and delivery technologies to ensure that the viral agent reaches its target tissue.

Prodrug enzymes and their applications in image-guided therapy of cancer: tracking prodrug enzymes to minimize collateral damage

Many cytotoxic therapies are available to kill cancer cells. Unfortunately, these also inflict significant damage on normal cells. Identifying highly effective cancer treatments that have minimal or no side effects continues to be a major challenge. One of the strategies to minimize damage to normal tissue is to deliver an activating enzyme that localizes only in the tumor and converts a nontoxic prodrug to a cytotoxic agent locally in the tumor. Such strategies have been previously tested but with limited success due in large part to the uncertainty in the delivery and distribution of the enzyme. Imaging the delivery of the enzyme to optimize timing of the prodrug administration to achieve image-guided prodrug therapy would be of immense benefit for this strategy. Here, we have reviewed advances in the incorporation of image guidance in the applications of prodrug enzymes in cancer treatment. These advances demonstrate the feasibility of using clinically translatable imaging in these prodrug enzyme strategies.

The ex vivo purge of cancer cells using oncolytic viruses: recent advances and clinical implications

Hematological malignancies are treated with intensive high-dose chemotherapy, with or without radiation. This is followed by hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation (HSCT) to rescue or reconstitute hematopoiesis damaged by the anticancer therapy. Autologous HSC grafts may contain cancer cells and purging could further improve treatment outcomes. Similarly, allogeneic HSCT may be improved by selectively purging alloreactive effector cells from the graft rather than wholesale immune cell depletion. Viral agents that selectively replicate in specific cell populations are being studied in experimental models of cancer and immunological diseases and have potential applications in the context of HSC graft engineering. This review describes preclinical studies involving oncolytic virus strains of adenovirus, herpes simplex virus type 1, myxoma virus, and reovirus as ex vivo purging agents for HSC grafts, as well as in vitro and in vivo experimental studies using oncolytic coxsackievirus, measles virus, parvovirus, vaccinia virus, and vesicular stomatitis virus to eradicate hematopoietic malignancies. Alternative ex vivo oncolytic virus strategies are also outlined that aim to reduce the risk of relapse following autologous HSCT and mitigate morbidity and mortality due to graft-versus-host disease in allogeneic HSCT.

MUC1 Promoter-Driven DTA as a Targeted Therapeutic Strategy against Pancreatic Cancer

Mucin1 (MUC1) is overexpressed in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) and is associated with tumor aggressiveness, suggesting that MUC1 is a promising therapeutic target for promoter-driven diphtheria toxin A (DTA). Endogenous MUC1 transcript levels were analyzed by quantitative PCR (qPCR) in multiple PDA cells (Capan1, HPAFII, Su.86.86, Capan2, Hs766T, MiaPaCa2, and Panc1). Expression levels were correlated with luciferase activity and cell death after transfection with MUC1 promoter-driven luciferase and DTA constructs. MUC1-positive (+) cells had significantly elevated MUC1 mRNA expression compared with MUC1-negative (-) cells. Luciferase activity was significantly higher in MUC1(+) cells when transfected with MUC1 promoter-driven luciferase and MUC1(+) cells underwent enhanced cell death after transfection with a single dose of MUC1 promoter-driven DTA. IFNγ pretreatment enhanced MUC1 expression in MUC1(-) cells and induced sensitivity to MUC1-DTA therapy. Matched primary and metastatic tumor lesions from clinical specimens revealed similar MUC1 IHC labeling patterns, and a tissue microarray of human PDA biopsies revealed increased immunolabeling with a combination of MUC1 and mesothelin (MSLN) antibodies, compared with either antibody alone. Combining MUC1 with MSLN-targeted DTA enhanced drug efficacy in an in vitro model of heterogeneous PDA. These data demonstrate that MUC1 promoter-driven DTA preferentially kills MUC1-expressing PDA cells and drugs that enhance MUC1 expression sensitize PDA cells with low MUC1 expression.

IMPLICATIONS

MUC1 expression in primary and metastatic lesions provides a rationale for the development of a systemic MUC1 promoter-driven DTA therapy that may be further enhanced by combination with other promoter-driven DTA constructs.

Armed oncolytic virus enhances immune functions of chimeric antigen receptor-modified T cells in solid tumors

The clinical efficacy of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-redirected T cells remains marginal in solid tumors compared with leukemias. Failures have been attributed to insufficient T-cell migration and to the highly immunosuppressive milieu of solid tumors. To overcome these obstacles, we have combined CAR-T cells with an oncolytic virus armed with the chemokine RANTES and the cytokine IL15, reasoning that the modified oncolytic virus will both have a direct lytic effect on infected malignant cells and facilitate migration and survival of CAR-T cells. Using neuroblastoma as a tumor model, we found that the adenovirus Ad5Δ24 exerted a potent, dose-dependent, cytotoxic effect on tumor cells, whereas CAR-T cells specific for the tumor antigen GD2 (GD2.CAR-T cells) were not damaged. When used in combination, Ad5Δ24 directly accelerated the caspase pathways in tumor cells exposed to CAR-T cells, whereas the intratumoral release of both RANTES and IL15 attracted CAR-T cells and promoted their local survival, respectively, increasing the overall survival of tumor-bearing mice. These preclinical data support the use of this innovative biologic platform of immunotherapy for solid tumors. Cancer Res; 74(18); 5195-205. ©2014 AACR.

Suicide plus immune gene therapy prevents post-surgical local relapse and increases overall survival in an aggressive mouse melanoma setting

In an aggressive B16-F10 murine melanoma model, we evaluated the effectiveness and antitumor mechanisms triggered by a surgery adjuvant treatment that combined a local suicide gene therapy (SG) with a subcutaneous genetic vaccine (Vx) composed of B16-F10 cell extracts and lipoplexes carrying the genes of human interleukin-2 and murine granulocyte and macrophage colony stimulating factor. Pre-surgical SG treatment, neither alone nor combined with Vx was able to slow down the fast evolution of this tumor. After surgery, both SG and SG + Vx treatments, significantly prevented (in 50% of mice) or delayed (in the remaining 50%) post-surgical recurrence, as well as significantly prolonged recurrence-free (SG and SG + Vx) and overall median survival (SG + Vx). The treatment induced the generation of a pseudocapsule wrapping and separating the tumor from surrounding host tissue. Both, SG and the subcutaneous Vx, induced this envelope that was absent in the control group. On the other hand, PET scan imaging of the SG + Vx group suggested the development of an effective systemic immunostimulation that enhanced (18)FDG accrual in the thymus, spleen and vertebral column. When combined with surgery, direct intralesional injection of suicide gene plus distal subcutaneous genetic vaccine displayed efficacy and systemic antitumor immune response without host toxicity. This suggests the potential value of the assayed approach for clinical purposes.

Armed therapeutic viruses - a disruptive therapy on the horizon of cancer immunotherapy

For the past 150 years cancer immunotherapy has been largely a theoretical hope that recently has begun to show potential as a highly impactful treatment for various cancers. In particular, the identification and targeting of immune checkpoints have given rise to exciting data suggesting that this strategy has the potential to activate sustained antitumor immunity. It is likely that this approach, like other anti-cancer strategies before it, will benefit from co-administration with an additional therapeutic and that it is this combination therapy that may generate the greatest clinical outcome for the patient. In this regard, oncolytic viruses are a therapeutic moiety that is well suited to deliver and augment these immune-modulating therapies in a highly targeted and economically advantageous way over current treatment. In this review, we discuss the blockade of immune checkpoints, how oncolytic viruses complement and extend these therapies, and speculate on how this combination will uniquely impact the future of cancer immunotherapy.

Oncolytic viral therapy for pancreatic cancer: current research and future directions

The development of targeted agents and chemotherapies for pancreatic cancer has only modestly affected clinical outcome and not changed 5-year survival. Fortunately the genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying pancreatic cancer are being rapidly uncovered and are providing opportunities for novel targeted therapies. Oncolytic viral therapy is one of the most promising targeted agents for pancreatic cancer. This review will look at the current state of the development of these self-replicating nanoparticles in the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

Monitoring of biodistribution and persistence of conditionally replicative adenovirus in a murine model of ovarian cancer using capsid-incorporated mCherry and expression of human somatostatin receptor subtype 2 gene

A significant limiting factor to the human clinical application of conditionally replicative adenovirus (CRAd)-based virotherapy is the inability to noninvasively monitor these agents and their potential persistence. To address this issue, we proposed a novel imaging approach that combines transient expression of the human somatostatin receptor (SSTR) subtype 2 reporter gene with genetic labeling of the viral capsid with mCherry fluorescent protein. To test this dual modality system, we constructed the Ad5/3Δ24pIXcherry/SSTR CRAd and validated its capacity to generate fluorescent and nuclear signals in vitro and following intratumoral injection. Analysis of 64Cu-CB-TE2A-Y3-TATE biodistribution in mice revealed reduced uptake in tumors injected with the imaging CRAd relative to the replication-incompetent, Ad-expressing SSTR2 but significantly greater uptake compared to the negative CRAd control. Optical imaging demonstrated relative correlation of fluorescent signal with virus replication as determined by viral genome quantification in tumors. Positron emission tomography/computed tomography studies demonstrated that we can visualize radioactive uptake in tumors injected with imaging CRAd and the trend for greater uptake by standardized uptake value analysis compared to control CRAd. In the aggregate, the plasticity of our dual imaging approach should provide the technical basis for monitoring CRAd biodistribution and persistence in preclinical studies while offering potential utility for a range of clinical applications.

An oncolytic adenovirus expressing interleukin-24 enhances antitumor activities in combination with paclitaxel in breast cancer cells

Oncolytic adenoviruses are a novel class of anticancer treatment, based upon their ability to replicate selectively within malignant cells resulting in cell lysis. The replication‑selective adenovirus, ZD55‑IL‑24, was constructed by harboring an E1B‑55 kDa deletion and arming with interleukin-24 (IL-24). The microtubule‑stabilizing drug paclitaxel (PTX) exhibits activity in relapsed cancer. In the present study, the synergistic antitumor effects of the combination of PTX and ZD55‑IL‑24 on breast cancer cells was investigated. The results demonstrated that there were different roles for PTX in the expression of transgenic mRNA and protein. ZD55‑IL‑24 combined with PTX induced marked growth inhibition of MDA‑MB‑231 and Bcap‑37 cells. PTX increased viral uptake and appeared not to alter the replication of ZD55‑IL‑24 in breast cancer cells. Annexin V‑fluorescein isothiocyanate/propidium iodide staining and the Hoechst 33258 assay indicated that ZD55‑IL‑24 induced an increase in the number of apoptotic cells when administered in combination with PTX. It was demonstrated that ZD55‑IL‑24 conjugated with PTX was highly concomitant, and increased proapoptotic proteins levels, activated caspase‑3, -7 and -9 and downregulated anti‑apoptotic proteins. These results suggested that ZD55‑IL‑24 in combination with PTX exhibited a markedly increased cytotoxic and apoptosis‑inducing effect in breast cancer cells. Thus, this chemo‑gene‑viro therapeutic strategy was demonstrated to be superior to conventional chemotherapy or gene‑viro therapy alone.

Intraductal delivery of adenoviruses targets pancreatic tumors in transgenic Ela-myc mice and orthotopic xenografts

Gene-based anticancer therapies delivered by adenoviruses are limited by the poor viral distribution into the tumor. In the current work we have explored the feasibility of targeting pancreatic tumors through a loco-regional route. We have taken advantage of the ductal network in the pancreas to retrogradelly inject adenoviruses through the common bile duct in two different mouse models of pancreatic carcinogenesis: The transgenic Ela-myc mice that develop mixed neoplasms displaying both acinar-like and duct-like neoplastic cells affecting the whole pancreas; and mice bearing PANC-1 and BxPC-3 orthotopic xenografts that constitute a model of localized human neoplastic tumors. We studied tumor targeting and the anticancer effects of newly thymidine kinase-engineered adenoviruses both in vitro and in vivo, and conducted comparative studies between intraductal or intravenous administration. Our data indicate that the intraductal delivery of adenovirus efficiently targets pancreatic tumors in the two mouse models. The in vivo application of AduPARTKT plus ganciclovir (GCV) treatment induced tumor regression in Ela-myc mice. Moreover, the intraductal injection of ICOVIR15-TKT oncolytic adenoviruses significantly improved mean survival of mice bearing PANC-1 and BxPC-3 pancreatic xenografts from 30 to 52 days and from 20 to 68 days respectively (p less than 0.0001) when combined with GCV. Of notice, both AduPARTKT and ICOVIR15-TKT antitumoral responses were stronger by ductal viral application than intravenously, in line with the 38-fold increase in pancreas transduction observed upon ductal administration. In summary our data show that cytotoxic adenoviruses retrogradelly injected to the pancreas can be a feasible approach to treat localized pancreatic tumors.

Mitochondrial DNA damage induces apoptosis in senescent cells

Senescence is a cellular response to damage and stress. The senescence response prevents cancer by suppressing the proliferation of cells with a compromised genome and contributes to optimal wound healing in normal tissues. Persistent senescent cells are also thought to drive aging and age-associated pathologies through their secretion of inflammatory factors that modify the tissue microenvironment and alter the function of nearby normal or transformed cells. Understanding how senescent cells alter the microenvironment would be aided by the ability to induce or eliminate senescent cells at will in vivo. Here, we combine the use of the synthetic nucleoside analog ganciclovir (GCV) with herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSVtk) activity to create or eliminate senescent human cells. We show that low concentrations of GCV induce senescence through the accumulation of nuclear DNA damage while higher concentrations of GCV, similar to those used in vivo, kill non-dividing senescent cells via mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) damage and caspase-dependent apoptosis. Using this system, we effectively eliminated xenografted normal human senescent fibroblasts or induced senescence in human breast cancer cells in vivo. Thus, cellular senescence and mtDNA damage are outcomes of synthetic nucleoside analog treatment, indicating that the GCV-HSVtk combination can be used effectively to promote the targeted formation or eradication of senescent cells.

Chapter five--The development of transcription-regulated adenoviral vectors with high cancer-selective imaging capabilities

A clear benefit of molecular imaging is to enable noninvasive, repetitive monitoring of intrinsic signals within tumor cells as a means to identify the lesions as malignant or to assess the ability of treatment to perturb key pathways within the tumor cells. Due to the promising utility of molecular imaging in oncology, preclinical research to refine molecular imaging techniques in small animals is a blossoming field. We will first discuss the several imaging modalities such as fluorescent imaging, bioluminescence imaging, and positron emission tomography that are now commonly used in small animal settings. The indirect imaging approach, which can be adapted to a wide range of imaging reporter genes, is a useful platform to develop molecular imaging. In particular, reporter gene-based imaging is well suited for transcriptional-targeted imaging that can be delivered by recombinant adenoviral vectors. In this review, we will summarize transcription-regulated strategies used in adenoviral-mediated molecular imaging to visualize metastasis and monitor oncolytic therapy in preclinical models.

Suicide gene therapy in cancer: where do we stand now? Cancer Lett. 2012;324:160-170. [PMID: 22634584 DOI: 10.1016/j.canlet.2012.05.023]

Suicide gene therapy is based on the introduction into tumor cells of a viral or a bacterial gene, which allows the conversion of a non-toxic compound into a lethal drug. Although suicide gene therapy has been successfully used in a large number of in vitro and in vivo studies, its application to cancer patients has not reached the desirable clinical significance. However, recent reports on pre-clinical cancer models demonstrate the huge potential of this strategy when used in combination with new therapeutic approaches. In this review, we summarize the different suicide gene systems and gene delivery vectors addressed to cancer, with particular emphasis on recently developed systems and associated bystander effects. In addition, we review the different strategies that have been used in combination with suicide gene therapy and provide some insights into the future directions of this approach, particularly towards cancer stem cell eradication.