Quantitation of cell number by a positron emission tomography reporter gene strategy

In vivo Imaging and Quantitation of Adoptively Transferred Human Antigen-Specific T Cells Transduced to Express a Human Norepinephrine Transporter Gene

“…Currently, several reporter gene systems are being used in preclinical models to transduce normal or malignant cells so as to be able to image their migration, growth, and function in vivo (14,17,18). However, the clinical applicability of many of these reporters is limited because the proteins they encode are immunogenic in man.…”

Imaging in neurooncology

“…These experimental strategies have been reviewed in detail previously. 67 New developments aim toward 1) the detection of tumor cell migration in vivo, 160 2) the establishment of in vivo assays for direct imaging of tumor-specific signal transduction pathways (e.g., p53-, E2F-1 and HIF-1-␣ regulated pathways [161][162][163][164] ), 3) the design of labeled peptides binding specifically to the cell adhesion receptor integrin ␣(v)␤ 3 or other tumor-specific antigens and of labeled bone marrow-derived endothelial precursor cells to allow highly specific tumor visualization and the study of glioma angiogenesis and neovascularization, [165][166][167][168][169] 4) the generation and in vivo characterization of transgenic mice with gliomas induced by signaling through Ras and Akt pathways, 170 and 5) the construction of bifunctional imaging marker and therapeutic genes to allow direct assessment of therapeutic gene expression in culture and in vivo models by directly corresponding assays. 171,172 Especially the design of small tumor-specific antibody fragments is an attractive way for specific detection of Many of the current experimental protocols investigating new drug and treatment strategies for experimental gliomas include MRI, optical or PET imaging of either the distribution of therapeutic agents, [173][174][175] or therapyinduced tumor-changes, 171,176 -184 with the overall attempt of designing image-guided treatments.…”

Noninvasive detection of tumor-infiltrating T cells by PET reporter imaging

“…Our cell dosing was within range of clinical applications, and we were able to detect signal within the M202 tumors of F5/hdCK3mut recipients, demonstrating that our PET reporter imaging should be directly scalable to clinical applications. For therapies with increased quantities of cells, this will increase the reporter signal, allowing for a better signal-tonoise ratio in the [ 18 F]-L-FMAU PET scan (39,40). This is important in detecting the correct homing capacity as well as the potential off-target locations of hdCK3mut-expressing cells.…”