Abstract
Current methods for detecting successful gene transfer to airway epithelia involve obtaining a sample of the target tissue. This may affect the longevity of expression of the transgene under evaluation. We describe a laser fluorescence bronchoscopic system that can detect the expression of the fluorescent protein, green fluorescence protein (GFP), in the airway of monkeys that have been transfected with adenovirus, without the need for obtaining tissue. This technique will have applications in pre-clinical and clinical studies of gene transfer to airway epithelia and other surface epithelia accessible by endoscopy.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Pary Weber, Phil Karp, Lynn Kuchemann, Janice Launspach, Paul Montague, Tatiana Rokhlina, and Rosanna Smith for excellent assistance. We thank Dan Vermeer and Paola Drapkin for their help in developing the rabbit tracheal abrasion technique. We especially appreciate the help of Iowa Donor Network (IDN) and Tissue Transformation Technologies (T3) for acquisition of human lung tissue. We appreciate the support of the University of Iowa Gene Transfer Vector Core (supported by the Roy J Carver Charitable Trust, the NHLBI, CFF, and NIDDK-DK54759); In Vitro Cell Models Core (supported by the NIHLBI, CFF, and NIDDK-DK54759); and the Gene Transfer Morphology Core (supported by the NIDDK-DK54759). This work was supported by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute HL58340, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and the Gene Therapy Center of the University of Iowa.
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Rooney, C., Suter, M., McLennan, G. et al. Laser fluorescence bronchoscopy for detection of fluorescent reporter genes in airway epithelia. Gene Ther 9, 1639–1644 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.gt.3301825
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.gt.3301825
