Sensitive in vivo imaging of T cells using a membrane-bound Gaussia princeps luciferase
Nat Med
E. B. Santos, R. Yeh, J. Lee, Y. Nikhamin, B. Punzalan, B. Punzalan, K. La Perle, S. M. Larson, M. Sadelain, R. J. BrentjensWe developed a new approach to bioluminescent T cell imaging using a membrane-anchored form of the Gaussia luciferase (GLuc) enzyme, termed extGLuc, which we could stably express in both mouse and human primary T cells. In vitro, extGLuc+ cells emitted significantly higher bioluminescent signal when compared to cells expressing GLuc, Renilla luciferase (RLuc) or membrane-anchored RLuc (extRLuc). In vivo, mouse extGLuc+ T cells showed higher bioluminescent signal when compared to GLuc+ and RLuc+ T cells. Application of this imaging approach to human T cells genetically modified to express tumor-specific chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) enabled us to show in vivo CAR-mediated T cell accumulation in tumor, T cell persistence over time and concomitant imaging of T cells and tumor cells modified to express firefly luciferase. This sensitive imaging technology has application to many in vivo cell-based studies in a wide array of mouse models.
2009
Nat Med
Volume: 15. Issue: 3. Pages: 338-44.
