TY  - JOUR
A1  - Weibel, Stephanie
A1  - Basse-Luesebrink, Thomas Christian
A1  - Hess, Michael
A1  - Hofmann, Elisabeth
A1  - Seubert, Carolin
A1  - Langbein-Laugwitz, Johanna
A1  - Gentschev, Ivaylo
A1  - Sturm, Volker Jörg Friedrich
A1  - Ye, Yuxiang
A1  - Kampf, Thomas
A1  - Jakob, Peter Michael
A1  - Szalay, Aladar A.
T1  - Imaging of Intratumoral Inflammation during Oncolytic Virotherapy of Tumors by \(^{19}\)F-Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
JF  - PLoS ONE
N2  - Background
Oncolytic virotherapy of tumors is an up-coming, promising therapeutic modality of cancer therapy. Unfortunately, non-invasive techniques to evaluate the inflammatory host response to treatment are rare. Here, we evaluate \(^{19}\)F magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) which enables the non-invasive visualization of inflammatory processes in pathological conditions by the use of perfluorocarbon nanoemulsions (PFC) for monitoring of oncolytic virotherapy.

Methodology/Principal Findings
The Vaccinia virus strain GLV-1h68 was used as an oncolytic agent for the treatment of different tumor models. Systemic application of PFC emulsions followed by \(^1H\)/\(^{19}\)F MRI of mock-infected and GLV-1h68-infected tumor-bearing mice revealed a significant accumulation of the \(^{19}\)F signal in the tumor rim of virus-treated mice. Histological examination of tumors confirmed a similar spatial distribution of the \(^{19}\)F signal hot spots and \(CD68^+\)-macrophages. Thereby, the \(CD68^+\)-macrophages encapsulate the GFP-positive viral infection foci. In multiple tumor models, we specifically visualized early inflammatory cell recruitment in Vaccinia virus colonized tumors. Furthermore, we documented that the \(^{19}\)F signal correlated with the extent of viral spreading within tumors.

Conclusions/Significance
These results suggest \(^{19}\)F MRI as a non-invasive methodology to document the tumor-associated host immune response as well as the extent of intratumoral viral replication. Thus, \(^{19}\)F MRI represents a new platform to non-invasively investigate the role of the host immune response for therapeutic outcome of oncolytic virotherapy and individual patient response.
KW  - inflammation
KW  - fluorescence microscopy
KW  - oncolytic viruses
KW  - fluorescence imaging
KW  - macrophages
KW  - magnetic resonance imaging
KW  - histology
KW  - in vivo imaging
Y1  - 2013
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-130311
VL  - 8
IS  - 3
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Donat, Ulrike
A1  - Rother, Juliane
A1  - Schäfer, Simon
A1  - Hess, Michael
A1  - Härtl, Barbara
A1  - Kober, Christina
A1  - Langbein-Laugwitz, Johanna
A1  - Stritzker, Jochen
A1  - Chen, Nanhai G.
A1  - Aguilar, Richard J.
A1  - Weibel, Stephanie
A1  - Szalay, Alandar A.
T1  - Characterization of Metastasis Formation and Virotherapy in the Human C33A Cervical Cancer Model
JF  - PLoS ONE
N2  - More than 90% of cancer mortalities are due to cancer that has metastasized. Therefore, it is crucial to intensify research on metastasis formation and therapy. Here, we describe for the first time the metastasizing ability of the human cervical cancer cell line C33A in athymic nude mice after subcutaneous implantation of tumor cells. In this model, we demonstrated a steady progression of lumbar and renal lymph node metastases during tumor development. Besides predominantly occurring lymphatic metastases, we visualized the formation of hematogenous metastases utilizing red fluorescent protein (RFP) expressing C33A-RFP cells. RFP positive cancer cells were found migrating in blood vessels and forming micrometastases in lungs of tumor-bearing mice. Next, we set out to analyze the influence of oncolytic virotherapy in the C33A-RFP model and demonstrated an efficient virus-mediated reduction of tumor size and metastatic burden. These results suggest the C33A-RFP cervical cancer model as a new platform to analyze cancer metastases as well as to test novel treatment options to combat metastases.
KW  - metastasis
KW  - renal cancer
KW  - oncolytic viruses
KW  - lymph nodes
KW  - kidneys
KW  - lung and intrathoracic tumors
KW  - secondary lung tumors
KW  - cancer treatment
Y1  - 2014
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-119674
SN  - 1932-6203
VL  - 9
IS  - 6
ER  -