title: The use of molecular imaging of gene expression by radiotracers in gene therapy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Progress with gene-based therapies has been hampered by difficulties in monitoring the biodistribution and kinetics of vector-mediated gene expression. Recent developments in non-invasive imaging have allowed researchers and clinicians to assess the location, magnitude and persistence of gene expression in animals and humans. Such advances should eventually lead to improvement in the efficacy and safety of current clinical protocols for future treatments.
  
  
  METHODS
  The molecular imaging techniques for monitoring gene therapy in the living subject, with a specific highlight on the key reporter gene approaches that have been developed and validated in preclinical models using the latest imaging modalities. The applications of molecular imaging to biotherapy, with a particular emphasis on monitoring of gene and vector biodistribution and on image-guided radiotherapy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Among the reporter gene/probe combinations that have been described so far, one stands out, in our view, as the most versatile and easy to implement: the Na/I symporter. This strategy, exploiting more than 50 years of experience in the treatment of differentiated thyroid carcinomas, has been validated in different types of experimental cancers and with different types of oncolytic viruses and is likely to become a key tool in the implementation of human gene therapy.
authors.affiliation: INSERM U948, Biothérapies Hépatiques, Nantes, France.
authors.forename: Peggy
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Richard-Fiardo
authors.forename: Philippe R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Franken
authors.forename: Kevin J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Harrington
authors.forename: Georges
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vassaux
authors.forename: Béatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cambien
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D015870:Gene Expression; D015316:Genetic Therapy / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D057054:Molecular Imaging / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D011849:Radioactive Tracers; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends
chemical_list: D011849:Radioactive Tracers