title: In Vivo Imaging of Nuclear Receptor Transcriptional Activity.
abstract: Nuclear receptors drive key processes during development, reproduction, metabolism, and disease. In order to understand and analyze, as well as manipulate, their actions it is imperative that we are able to study them in whole animals and in a spatiotemporal manner. The increasing repertoire of transgenic animals, expressing reporter genes driven by a specific nuclear receptor, enables us to do this. Use of luciferase reporter genes is the method of choice of many researchers as it is well tolerated, relatively easy to use, and robust. Further, luciferase lends itself to the process as it can penetrate tissue and can be manipulated to degrade rapidly thus allowing a dynamic response. However, limited resolution, lack of quantitation, and the largely two-dimensional images acquired make it desirable to support results using ex vivo imaging and enzymatic and/or immunohistochemical analysis of dissected tissue. As well as enabling the visualization of nuclear receptor signaling in wild-type animals, crossing these mouse models with models of disease will provide invaluable information on how such signaling is dysregulated during disease progression, and how we may manipulate nuclear receptor signaling in therapy. The use of in vivo imaging therefore provides the power to determine where and when in development, aging, and disease nuclear receptors are active and how ligands or receptor modulators affect this.
authors.affiliation: Androgen Signalling Laboratory, Department of Surgery & Cancer, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London, W12 0NN, UK.|The Cardiff China Medical Research Collaborative, Cardiff University School of Medicine, Cardiff, CF14 4XN, UK.
authors.forename: D Alwyn
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Dart
authors.affiliation: Androgen Signalling Laboratory, Department of Surgery & Cancer, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London, W12 0NN, UK. charlotte.bevan@imperial.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Charlotte L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Bevan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006728:Hormones / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008156:Luciferases / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D023041:Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays
chemical_list: D006728:Hormones; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear; D008156:Luciferases
keywords: Hormone; In vivo imaging; Luciferase; Nuclear hormone receptor; Response element; Steroid; Transgenic mice