Colorectal cancer can metastasize to the liver, but remain liver confined for years. A critical step in developing treatments for intrahepatic cancer involves assessment in an orthotopic intrahepatic model. The purpose of this study was to develop a noninvasive intrahepatic tumor model to study the efficacy of 5-flucytosine/yeast cytosine deaminase (5FC/yCD)-based gene therapy for liver tumors. Luciferase expressing human colorectal carcinoma (HT-29luc) cells were generated by retroviral infection and implanted in the left liver lobe of nude mice. The bioluminescence was measured every week for a period of 1 month, then animals were killed and tumors were measured by calipers. After we found a correlation between photon counts and tumor size, animals were implanted with tumors composed of either 0%, 10%, or 100% yCD/HT-29luc cells, and treated with 5FC. Tumor bioluminescence was measured during treatment and tumor histology examined at the time of death. We found that 5FC caused significant regression of yCD expressing tumors. Furthermore, visible tumors at the time of death, which emitted little bioluminescence, contained little or no viable tumor. We then developed an adenoviral vector for yCD. Intraperitoneal administration of adenovirus containing yCD led to the production of yCD enzyme within intrahepatic tumors. These results suggest that (1) intrahepatic cancer responds to 5FC when cells express yCD; (2) the luciferin-luciferase system permits non-invasive real time imaging of viable intrahepatic cancer; and (3) this system can be used to carry out gene therapy experiments using yCD adenovirus.

The term Big Data has come to encompass a number of concepts and uses within medicine. This paper lays out the relevance and application of large collections of data in the radiation oncology community. We describe the potential importance and uses in clinical practice. The important concepts are then described and how they have been or could be implemented are discussed. Impediments to progress in the collection and use of sufficient quantities of data are also described. Finally, recommendations for how the community can move forward to achieve the potential of big data in radiation oncology are provided.

Selective gene transfer to tumor is critical in cancer gene therapy. We previously used ionizing radiation to improve adenovirus uptake in intrahepatic tumors but liver cytotoxicity associated with the viral administration still occurred. Here, we explore the potential of radiation for improving gene delivery by a virus-mimicking nanoparticle, transferrin (Tf)-cationic liposome-DNA complex (Tf-lipoplex). Transduction by Tf-lipoplex was highly efficient in various cell lines and further increased by radiation in a dose-and time-dependent manner. This radiation induction, which was associated with an increase in Tf-lipoplex uptake (3-to 4-folds in hepatocytes WB and lung cancer cells, LLC1), was absent when a Tf-deficient complex was used or abolished by the presence of free Tf, suggesting that Tf receptor (TfR) interaction is required for radiation induction. Radiation (10-20 Gy) markedly induced transgene (LacZ) expression in LLC1 xenografts (3.5-to 7.4-folds), correlating with increased plasmid content and TfR expression in irradiated tumors. Moreover, Tf-lipoplex-mediated gene expression was not observed in the liver or other normal tissues regardless of radiation treatment. We conclude that radiation improves Tf-lipoplex gene delivery selectively to tumor cells both in vitro and in vivo. Our findings may provide insight in developing ligand-specific lipoplex for molecularly targeted cancer gene therapy.

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