Prostate cancer is one of the most promising candidates for sodium iodide symporter (NIS)-mediated gene therapy. Adenovirus-mediated expression of NIS that is driven by prostate-specific promoters induces generous radioiodine accumulation in prostate cancer cells that may be used for therapy with (131)I. We have recently developed a replication-deficient adenovirus carrying the human NIS cDNA linked to a composite probasin promoter, ARR(2)PB, aiming toward specific expression of the human NIS gene (h-NIS) in prostate tissue for targeted radioactive iodide therapy of prostate cancer (Ad-ARR(2)PB/hNIS). The ability of Ad-ARR(2)PB/hNIS to cause NIS expression in tumor cells was characterized by iodide uptake assay and compared with Ad-CMV/hNIS in which the h-NIS expression is driven by the cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter. Androgen-dependent prostate cancer cell lines (LNCaP) and non-prostate origin tumor cell lines (SNU449, MCF-7, HCT116, OVCAR-3, and Panc-1) were infected with the viral constructs, and perchlorate-sensitive (125)I uptake and NIS protein expression were measured. Ad-ARR(2)PB/hNIS-infected LNCaP cells showed androgen-dependent and perchlorate-sensitive iodide uptake. Iodide accumulation in LNCaP cells infected with Ad-ARR(2)PB/hNIS, followed by incubation with synthetic androgen, was 5.3-fold increased compared with those coincubated with perchlorate (15,184 +/- 1,173 cpm versus 2,837 +/- 187 cpm). Ad-ARR(2)PB/hNIS-infected LNCaP cells revealed a 3.2-fold increase of iodide accumulation compared with those infected with Ad-CMV/hNIS (multiplicity of infection = 30). Iodide uptake in a panel of non-prostate tumor cell lines infected with Ad-ARR(2)PB/hNIS was no more than 2,500 cpm, demonstrating the tissue specificity of this construct. These results indicate that Ad-ARR(2)PB/hNIS can be used to achieve high-magnitude and tissue-specific expression of h-NIS in prostate tissue and is a promising candidate for cancer gene therapy of prostate cancer.