Therapeutic efficacy evaluation of 111in-VNB-liposome on human colorectal adenocarcinoma HT-29/luc mouse xenografts

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of the liposome encaged with vinorelbine (VNB) and 111In-oxine on human colorectal adenocarcinoma (HT-29) using HT-29/luc mouse xenografts. HT-29 cells stably transfected with plasmid vectors containing luciferase gene (luc) were transplanted subcutaneously into the male NOD/SCID mice. Biodistribution of the drug was performed when tumor size reached 500–600 mm3. The uptakes of 111In-VNB-liposome in tumor and normal tissues/organs at various time points postinjection were assayed. Multimodalities, including gamma scintigraphy, bioluminescence imaging (BLI) and whole-body autoradiography (WBAR), were applied for evaluating the therapeutic efficacy when tumor size was about 100 mm3. The tumor/blood ratios of 111In-VNB-liposome were 0.044, 0.058, 2.690, 20.628 and 24.327, respectively, at 1, 4, 24, 48 and 72 h postinjection. Gamma scinitigraphy showed that the tumor/muscle ratios were 2.04, 2.25 and 4.39, respectively, at 0, 5 and 10 mg/kg VNB. BLI showed that significant tumor control was achieved in the group of 10 mg/kg VNB (111In-VNB-liposome). WBAR also confirmed this result. In this study, we have demonstrated a non-invasive imaging technique with a luciferase reporter gene and BLI for evaluation of tumor treatment efficacy in vivo. The SCID mice bearing HT-29/luc xenografts treated with 111In-VNB-liposome were shown with tumor reduction by this technique.