Monitoring gene therapy with reporter gene imaging.
Rapid advances in imaging technologies and gene transfer strategies offer a great opportunity to optimize clinical trials of human gene therapy. Reporter genes are emerging as very powerful tools to monitor the delivery, magnitude, and time variation of therapeutic gene transfer in vivo. Several reporter genes, such as the herpes simplex virus type 1 thymidine kinase, the dopamine type 2 receptor, and the somatostatin receptor type 2, are currently being successfully used with gamma camera, single photon emission computed tomography, and positron emission tomography imaging. These reporter genes can be coupled with a therapeutic gene of interest to indirectly monitor the expression of the therapeutic gene. Finally, applications of the reporter gene technology to other areas, such as cell trafficking studies and transgenic animal models, are now possible.
Ray
P
P
Crump Institute for Molecular Imaging, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1770, USA.
Bauer
E
E
Iyer
M
M
Barrio
J R
JR
Satyamurthy
N
N
Phelps
M E
ME
Herschman
H R
HR
Gambhir
S S
SS
D000818:Animals; D005462:Fluorine Radioisotopes; D015902:Gamma Cameras; D015870:Gene Expression; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D015316:Genetic Therapy; D018259:Herpesvirus 1, Human / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D017448:Receptors, Dopamine D2 / Q000235:genetics; D017481:Receptors, Somatostatin / Q000235:genetics; D013937:Thymidine Kinase / Q000235:genetics; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
D005462:Fluorine Radioisotopes; D017448:Receptors, Dopamine D2; D017481:Receptors, Somatostatin; C093733:somatostatin receptor 2; D013937:Thymidine Kinase