Adenoviral targeting of malignant melanoma for fluorescenceguided surgery prevents recurrence in orthotopic nude-mouse models

Malignant melanoma requires precise resection in order to avoid metastatic recurrence. We report here that the telomerase-dependent, green fluorescent protein (GFP)-containing adenovirus OBP-401 could label malignant melanoma with GFP in situ in orthotopic mouse models. OBP-401-based fluorescence-guided surgery (FGS) resulted in the complete resection of malignant melanoma in the orthotopic models, where conventional bright-light surgery (BLS) could not. High-dose administration of OBP-401 enabled FGS without residual cancer cells or recurrence, due to its dual effect of cancer-cell labeling with GFP and killing.