title: In vivo tracking of 111In-oxine labeled mesenchymal stem cells following infusion in patients with advanced cirrhosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Several animal and few human studies suggest the beneficial role of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in liver cirrhosis. However, little is known about the fate of MSCs after infusion in cirrhotic patients. We evaluated stem cell biodistribution after peripheral infusion of MSCs in four cirrhotic patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  After three passages of MSCs, the patients received a total of 250-400×10(6) cells, of which only 50% of the cells were labeled. Specific activities of 0.21-0.67 MBq/10(6) cells were maintained for the injected labeled MSCs. Planar whole-body acquisitions (anterior/posterior projections) were acquired immediately following infusion as well as at 2 h, 4 h, 6 h, 24 h, 48 h, 7th and 10th days after cell infusion.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After intravenous infusion, the radioactivity was first observed to accumulate in the lungs. During the following hours to days, the radioactivity gradually increased in the liver and spleen, with spleen uptake exceeding that in the liver in all patients. Region-of-interest analysis showed that the percentage of cells homing to the liver (following decay and background corrections and geometric mean calculation) increased from 0.0%-2.8% at immediately post-infusion images to 13.0-17.4% in 10th-day post-infusion. Similarly, the residual activities in the spleen increased from 2.0%-10.2% at immediately post-infusion images to 30.1%-42.2% in 10th-day post-infusion. During the same period, the residual activities in the lungs decreased from 27.0-33.5% to 2.0-5.4%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The infusion of MSCs labeled with (111)In-oxine through a peripheral vein is safe in cirrhosis. Cell labeling with (111)In-oxine is a suitable method for tracking MSC distribution after infusion.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Nuclear Medicine. Shariati Hospital. Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, 14114, Iran. agholam1@jhmi.edu
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gholamrezanezhad
authors.forename: Sahar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mirpour
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bagheri
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mohamadnejad
authors.forename: Kamran
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Alimoghaddam
authors.forename: Leila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Abdolahzadeh
authors.forename: Mohsen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saghari
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Malekzadeh
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D058948:Cell Tracking / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007267:Injections; D007553:Isotope Labeling; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D045164:Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009942:Organometallic Compounds / Q000378:metabolism*; D015125:Oxyquinoline / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000378:metabolism; D010865:Pilot Projects; D013997:Time Factors; D051598:Whole Body Imaging
chemical_list: D009942:Organometallic Compounds; C032950:indium oxine; D015125:Oxyquinoline