title: Molecular In Vivo Imaging Using a Noninvasive Cardiac-Specific MLC-2v Promoter Driven Dual-Gene Recombinant Lentivirus Monitoring System.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Our study aimed to demonstrate the feasibility of using the sodium/iodide symporter (NIS) to monitor vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF165) expression in vivo.
  
  
  METHODS
  We constructed a recombinant lentivirus plasmid with the MLC-2v promoter driving the sodium/iodide symporter (NIS) reporter gene linked to the VEGF165 gene. Expression of NIS and VEGF gene were identified by Western blot. On days 2 and 54, 99mTc-MIBI imaging was used to evaluate changes in myocardial ischemia. Noninvasive 125I micro-SPECT/CT imaging was used to assess the expression of NIS reporter gene dynamically over the next 2 months.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Western blot analysis showed that both NIS and VEGF165 were highly expressed in rat cardiomyoblast H9C2 cells transduced with Lenti-MLC-2v-NIS--VEGF165. 125I micro-SPECT/CT reporter imaging showed higher uptake in mouse myocardium transduced with Lenti-MLC-2v-VEGF165-IRES-NIS. NIS expression peaked on day 1 after transduction followed by a progressive decline to negligible levels by day 21. On day 1, mean 125I activity value in group 1 was higher than that in group 2 (P<0.05). The mean 125I activity value in group 3 was statically lower than that in group 1 and 2 (P<0.01). On day 60, 125I uptakes in test and positive control groups became very low, and no significant differences in the mean 125I activity values were detected between group 1 and group 2 (P = 0.531 > 0.05). In group 1 (test group), 99mTc-MIBI SPECT/CT revealed improvements in perfusion and wall thickening in the apical anterior wall. Mean IOD values of NIS and CD34 were significantly higher in group 1 than group 3 (P<0.05). Our study proved mean I-125 uptake was significantly correlated with mean IOD value of NIS and CD34 (P<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrates the feasibility of using the NIS gene to monitor VEGF165 expression in a mouse myocardial ischemia model.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Rui Jin Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Miao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Rui Jin Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Lihua
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Rui Jin Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Xin Hua Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Sheng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Rui Jin Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Xufeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Rui Jin Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Rui Jin Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Biao
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D016086:Lentivirus / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism*; D018994:Myosin Light Chains / Q000235:genetics*; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D051381:Rats; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D027981:Symporters / Q000235:genetics; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D019076:Transgenes; D000099209:Sodium-Iodide Symporters
chemical_list: D018994:Myosin Light Chains; D027981:Symporters; D000099209:Sodium-Iodide Symporters