Adenovirus-Mediated Gene Transfer to Tumor Cells

Cell transduction in vitro is only the first step toward proving that a gene-therapy vector can be useful to treat tumors. However, tumor targeting in vivo is now the milestone for gene therapy to succeed against disseminated cancer. Therefore, most valuable information is obtained from studies of vector biodistribution. Owing to the hepatotropism of adenoviral vectors, a particularly important parameter is the tumor/liver ratio. This ratio can be given at the level of gene expression if the amount of transgene expression is measured. To optimize the targeting, however, the levels of viral particles that reach the tumor compared to other organs must be studied. Most of this chapter deals with methods to quantify the virus fate in tumor-bearing animals. We present a radioactive labeling method that can be used to study biodistribution. After a small section dealing with tumor models, we describe methods to quantify different parameters related to adenovirus-mediated tumor targeting.