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Article: Noninvasive Monitoring of Target Gene Expression by Imaging Reporter Gene Expression in Living Animals Using Improved Bicistronic Vectors
- Article from:
- The Journal of Nuclear Medicine
- Article date:
- April 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Society of Nuclear Medicine Apr 2005. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Indirect, noninvasive imaging of therapeutic gene expression based on levels of reporter gene expression is a powerful tool to devise improved therapeutic strategies in cancer gene therapy. The use of bicistronic vectors carrying internal ribosome entry sites (IRESs) allows the coexpression of multiple gene products from the same promoter but leads to considerable attenuation of the downstream gene. In this study, we describe the use of 10 linked copies of the Gtx (homeodomain protein) IRES (abbreviated as SIRES) in place of the encephalomyocarditis (EMCV) IRES in mediating downstream reporter gene expression in cell culture and in vivo. Methods: We constructed several plasmid vectors ...