TY - JOUR T1 - Visualization of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) by siRNA probe radiolabeled with technetium-99m in hepatocarcinoma xenografts JF - Journal of Nuclear Medicine JO - J Nucl Med SP - 1569 LP - 1569 VL - 50 IS - supplement 2 AU - Rong Fu Wang AU - Lei Kang AU - Ping Yan AU - Meng Liu AU - Chun Li Zhang AU - Ming Ming Yu AU - Yong Gang Cui Y1 - 2009/05/01 UR - http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/50/supplement_2/1569.abstract N2 - 1569 Objectives The goal of this study was to evaluate a new noninvasive imaging agent of radiolabeling small interfere RNA targeting Human telomerase reverse transriptase (hTERT) with technetium-99m in hepatocarcinoma nude mice xenograft. Methods Both hTERT related and non-related 2` OMethyl-modified oligoribonucleotides were linked with a bifunctional chelator N-hydroxysuccinimidyl derivative of S-acetylmercaptoacetyltriglycine, which was labeled by 99mTc. The tumor cell uptakes were compared between these two probes with or without liposome. Following vein injection, tumor imaging and organ distribution were performed separately in 0.5h, 1h, 2h, 4h and 6h in HepG2 tumor bearing BALB/c nude mice. Results The labeling efficiency was no less than 67% and its radiochemical purity kept highly stability at room temperature and 37°C in fresh human serum. The tumor cells uptake ratios of both 99mTc-RNAs with liposome were obvious higher than those without liposome. Moreover, the 99mTc-RNA-hTERT was significantly higher affinity to HepG2 cells than the 99mTc-RNA-negetive (P<0.05). The in vivo biodistribution of 99mTc-RNA-hTERT in xenografts showed kidney and liver had a high radioactivity accumulation. Tumor radioactivity uptake of 99mTc-RNA-hTERT was significantly higher than 99mTc-RNA-negative, especially the tumor-non-tumor ratio(P<0.05). 99mTc-RNA-hTERT injecting xenografts showed clear tumor image after injection, especially after 2h. In contrast, 99mTc-RNA-negative could not show tumor image in any time. Conclusions This in vivo study proves that RNA probe targeting on hTERT could be used as an effective candidate for tumor molecular imaging. ER -