Virotheranostics, a double-barreled viral gun pointed toward cancer; ready to shoot?

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Molecular Imaging
• Gene Therapy

Background:

• Oncolytic virotherapy (OV) offers tumor-selective cancer cell destruction, a key advantage over conventional treatments.
• Traditional monitoring methods for OV therapy lack real-time safety and efficacy assessment capabilities.
• Noninvasive molecular imaging is crucial for tracking OV progression and therapeutic outcomes in live models.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the preclinical and clinical applications of human sodium/iodide symporter (hNIS) for molecular imaging in oncolytic virotherapy.
• To highlight the advantages of hNIS-based imaging for real-time monitoring of OV biodistribution, gene expression, and therapeutic efficacy.
• To discuss various reporter genes and their potential in clinical trials for evaluating virotherapy.

Main Methods:

• Engineered oncolytic viruses (OVs) incorporating reporter transgenes, specifically the human sodium/iodide symporter (hNIS).
• Utilizing three-dimensional molecular imaging techniques for noninvasive visualization of viral progression.
• Employing radiotracer accumulation at the site of transgene expression to assess gene kinetics and viral biodistribution.

Main Results:

• The hNIS reporter gene enables precise tracking of OV gene expression kinetics.
• hNIS-based imaging provides accurate data on viral biodistribution, toxicity, and therapeutic outcomes.
• This approach facilitates real-time monitoring of oncolytic treatment efficacy in live animal models.

Conclusions:

• hNIS-based molecular imaging is a powerful tool for evaluating oncolytic virotherapy efficacy and safety.
• This noninvasive strategy overcomes limitations of traditional monitoring methods.
• Reporter gene imaging holds significant promise for advancing oncolytic virotherapy in clinical applications.