Monitoring the Efficacy of Adoptively Transferred Prostate Cancer–Targeted Human T Lymphocytes with PET and Bioluminescence Imaging

K Dobrenkov, M Olszewska, Y Likar… - Journal of Nuclear …, 2008 - Soc Nuclear Med
K Dobrenkov, M Olszewska, Y Likar, L Shenker, G Gunset, S Cai, N Pillarsetty, H Hricak
Journal of Nuclear Medicine, 2008Soc Nuclear Med
Noninvasive imaging technologies have the potential to enhance the monitoring and
improvement of adoptive therapy with tumor-targeted T lymphocytes. We established an
imaging methodology for the assessment of spatial and temporal distributions of adoptively
transferred genetically modified human T cells in vivo for treatment monitoring and
prediction of tumor response in a systemic prostate cancer model. Methods: RM1 murine
prostate carcinoma tumors transduced with human prostate-specific membrane antigen …
Noninvasive imaging technologies have the potential to enhance the monitoring and improvement of adoptive therapy with tumor-targeted T lymphocytes. We established an imaging methodology for the assessment of spatial and temporal distributions of adoptively transferred genetically modified human T cells in vivo for treatment monitoring and prediction of tumor response in a systemic prostate cancer model.
Methods
RM1 murine prostate carcinoma tumors transduced with human prostate-specific membrane antigen (hPSMA) and a Renilla luciferase reporter gene were established in SCID/beige mice. Human T lymphocytes were transduced with chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) specific for either hPSMA or human carcinoembryonic antigen (hCEA) and with a fusion reporter gene for herpes simplex virus type 1 thymidine kinase (HSV1tk) and green fluorescent protein, with or without click beetle red luciferase. The localization of adoptively transferred T cells in tumor-bearing mice was monitored with 2′-18F-fluoro-2′-deoxy-1-β-d-arabinofuranosyl-5-ethyluracil (18F-FEAU) small-animal PET and bioluminescence imaging (BLI).
Results
Cotransduction of CAR-expressing T cells with the reporter gene did not affect CAR-mediated cytotoxicity. BLI of Renilla and click beetle red luciferase expression enabled concurrent imaging of adoptively transferred T cells and systemic tumors in the same animal. hPSMA-specific T lymphocytes persisted longer than control hCEA-targeted T cells in lung hPSMA-positive tumors, as indicated by both PET and BLI. Precise quantification of T-cell distributions at tumor sites by PET revealed that delayed tumor progression was positively correlated with the levels of 18F-FEAU accumulation in tumor foci in treated animals.
Conclusion
Quantitative noninvasive monitoring of genetically engineered human T lymphocytes by PET provides spatial and temporal information on T-cell trafficking and persistence. PET may be useful for predicting tumor response and for guiding adoptive T-cell therapy.
Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging