Figure 1.

cMET/hepatocyte growth factor receptor (HGFR)-targeted NIS gene transfer in vitro. Surface expression of cMET/HGFR on HuH7 (a) and Hep3B cells (b) was analyzed by flow cytometry with an antibody that specifically detects human cMET/HGFR and compared to isotype controls. ¹²⁵I uptake levels were measured in HuH7 and Hep3B cells after in vitro transduction with cMBP2-PEG-Stp/NIS polyplexes (n = 3) at an N/P ratio of 12 and results correlated well with cMET/HGFR expression levels (c). Further, to identify receptor specificity and NIS-dependency of iodide uptake, HuH7 cells were transfected with untargeted polyplexes Ala-PEG-Stp/NIS (n = 3), cMBP2-PEG-Stp/Antisense-NIS (n = 3) and polymer without DNA (cMBP2-PEG-Stp/HBG) (n = 3) (*P < 0.05; **P < 0.01) (d). Cell viability was not affected by polyplex-mediated gene transfer, as determined by cell viability assay (n = 3) (f). Results are reported as mean ± standard error of the mean.