PREDICTION OF ACCUMULATION OF I-131-LABELED METAIODOBENZYLGUANIDINE IN NEUROBLASTOMA CELL-LINES BY MEANS OF REVERSE TRANSCRIPTION AND POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION

Radiolabelled meta-iodobenzylguanidine (mIBG) currently provides one o f the most promising options for targeted radiotherapy of neuroblastom a. No means currently exists for prediction of mIBG uptake in tumour c ells of individual patients other than semiquantitative inferences fro m diagnostic scanning which depend on the continued existence of a mac roscopic tumour mass. A biological rapid assay which could be applied at initial biopsy would be invaluable in selecting patients for therap eutic strategies which incorporate radiolabelled mIBG. We have assesse d the expression of the noradrenaline transporter gene in six human ne uroblastoma cell lines and in three non-neural crest-derived cell line s using reverse transcription followed by the polymerase chain reactio n. Transcription of this gene was observed in five out of six neurobla stoma cell lines but in none of the control cells. A highly significan t correlation was established (P<0.01) between gene expression and act ive cellular accumulation of mIBG. It is suggested that semiquantitati ve evaluation of noradrenaline transporter gene transcripts may be pre dictive of mIBG uptake by rumours in vivo.