nitroreductase NfsA is a reporter gene for non-invasive PET imaging in cancer gene therapy applications.

The use of reporter genes to non-invasively image molecular processes inside cells has significant translational potential, particularly in the context of systemically administered gene therapy vectors and adoptively administered cells such as immune or stem cell based therapies. Bacterial nitroreductase enzymes possess ideal properties for reporter gene imaging applications, being of non-human origin and possessing the ability to metabolize a range of clinically relevant nitro(hetero)cyclic substrates. A library of eleven nitroreductase candidates were screened for the ability to efficiently metabolize 2-nitroimidazole based positron emission tomography (PET) probes originally developed as radiotracers for hypoxic cell imaging.

Stem cells: reparative medicine and nephrology.

Stem cells (SC) provide a way to repopulate damaged organs, to deliver genes or growth factors to privileged sites in the body after gene transfection and to reconstitute organs in vitro for transplantation. This reparative or regenerative medicine is currently used in the care of hematological and neoplastic diseases, but promising results have been obtained in the care of other diseases involving heart, arteries, liver and brain. SC have also been used in experimental models of mice with glomerulonephritis or with unilateral uretheral obstruction.