Reducing systemic toxicity in local tumor gene therapy using an alginate solution

To reduce dissemination of viral vectors and their gene products during and after local gene therapy, we mixed adenoviral vectors with an alginate solution and subsequently injected the mixture into mouse tumors. We found that the alginate solution significantly reduced the dissemination of adenoviral vectors for enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) and IL-12 into the liver and the IL-12 concentration in the serum. On the other hand, the alginate solution had no effects on EGFP and IL-12 expressions in tumors as well as the growth of IL-12 vector treated tumors.