Gene expression imaging

Penuelas I, Boan J, Marti-Climent J M, et al. (2004). Positron emission tomography and gene therapy Basic concepts and experimental approaches for in vivo gene expression imaging. Molec. Imag. Biol. 6 225-238. 

Radionuchde-based methods, optical techniques, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRl) have each been used as platforms for gene expression imaging. Thus far, studies in the lungs have almost exclusively been limited to radionucUde-based methods. 

Although the exquisite anatomic detail afforded by MRl is well documented, novel approaches using MRI for gene expression imaging have also been developed in recent years (5,25). 

Recently, we undertook a comprehensive evaluation of these various forms of image quantitation in gene expression imaging studies of the lungs and compared the results with in vitro assays of the expression of TK enzyme activity (71). In this analysis, we found that the pulmonary uptake of [ F]-FHBG increased as TK enzyme activity increased only at low levels of HSVl-f expression and then plateaued as TK activity continued to increase [Fig. 8.10(A)]. Compartmental modeling failed to improve the correlation with in vitro assays of transgene expression. 

Inubushi M, Wu JC, Gambhir SS, Sundaresan G, Satyamurthy N, Namavari M, Yee S, Barrio JR, Stout D, Chatziioannou AF, Wu L, Schelbert HR et al. Positron-emission tomography reporter gene expression imaging in rat myocardium. Circulation 2003 107(2) 326 332. 

---