Coexpression of Herpesviral Thymidine Kinase Reporter Gene and VEGF Gene for Noninvasive Monitoring of Therapeutic Gene Transfer: An In Vitro Evaluation

Journal of Nuclear Medicine

Julia Henke¹  Ronald G. Crystal¹  Neil R. Hackett¹  Wolf Erhardt¹  Frank M. Bengel¹  Martina Anton¹  Steffi Noll¹  Sybille Reder¹  Marcus Simoes¹  Constanze Wittermann¹  Bryan Essien¹  Markus Schwaiger¹  Roland Haubner¹  Bernd Gansbacher¹  Bettina Wagner¹ 

关键词: gene therapy;    reporter genes;    VEGF;    HSV1-tk;    heart;   

DOI  :  

学科分类：医学（综合）

来源: Society of Nuclear Medicine

【 摘 要 】

Coexpression of a reporter gene and a therapeutic gene may allow for noninvasive monitoring of cardiac gene therapy. We sought to evaluate the usefulness of an adenoviral vector expressing mutant herpesviral thymidine kinase reporter gene (HSV1-sr39tk) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) 121 in independent expression cassettes (Ad4tk). Methods: Accumulation of 14C-2′-fluoro-5-methyl-1-β-d-arabinofuranosyluracil (FIAU) and 9-(4-18F-fluoro-3-hydroxymethylbutyl)guanine (FHBG) as reporter probes, and secretion of VEGF into medium, were determined for Ad4tk-infected H9c2 rat cardiac cells in vitro. Results: In vitro tracer uptake increased with increasing vector concentration and over time. It was comparable to cells infected with adenovirus expressing only wild-type HSV1-tk (reporter probe: 14C-FIAU) or mutant HSV1-sr39tk (reporter probe: 18F-FHBG). No significant uptake was observed in cells infected with adenovirus expressing VEGF alone. With increasing vector concentration, Ad4tk-infected cells increasingly released VEGF into medium. VEGF production correlated significantly with cellular reporter probe uptake (r = 0.93; P = 0.0003). Conclusion: The usefulness of a vector coexpressing HSV1-tk and VEGF for noninvasive imaging of expression of a therapeutic transgene has been demonstrated in vitro. This approach may allow for future in vivo monitoring of cardiac angiogenesis gene therapy.

【 授权许可】

Unknown