Designing and building oncolytic viruses

Maroun, Justin; Muñoz-Alía, Miguel; Ammayappan, Arun; Schulze, Autumn; Peng, Kah-Whye; Russell, Stephen

Iodide is a critical component of thyroxine and is concentrated in thyroid follicular cells by the thyroidal sodium iodine symporter (NIS), a cell surface glycoprotein with 13 transmembrane domains [146] . Radioiodine is therefore used routinely in the clinic for thyroid imaging and for ablation of overactive thyroid tissue, including metastatic thyroid cancer. This is facilitated by the ready availability of several iodine radioisotopes, most notably 123 Ifor γ camera and single-photon emission computed tomography imaging, 124- for PET imaging and 131 I -, a β-emitting isotope, for thyroid ablation. Besides radioiodine, NIS can concentrate several related anions, of equal or greater value for single-photon emission computed tomography ( 99m TcO 4 -, pertechnetate), PET (B 18 F 4 -, tetrafluoroborate) and tissue ablation ( 211 At -, astatide, 188 ReO 4 -, perrhenate) [147] . The β emissions of 131 Ihave an average path length of approximately 1.8 mm in tissue and can therefore inflict significant damage on cells adjacent to an 131 I --loaded NIS expressing cell. For 188 ReO 4 the β emission path length is longer such that NIS negative tumor cells are even more likely to be damaged in the β particle crossfire when this radioisotope is used. Unsurprisingly, therefore, the NIS gene has been engineered into several OVs whose IT spread has been elegantly mapped and monitored in tumor-bearing mice by serial radiotracer imaging, and whose potency has been substantially boosted by appropriately timed administration of 131 I - [148] . At least two NIS-expressing OVs, a prostate-targeted oncolytic adenovirus and a CD46-targeted measles virus, have been advanced to human clinical trials with positive imaging data reported [11, 149] .