Noninvasive molecular imaging to detect transgene expression of lentiviral vector in nonhuman primates.

Unlabelled: Noninvasive imaging of a reporter gene is a new and promising technique to quantify transgene expression after gene therapy. This study was performed to demonstrate visualization of lentiviral-marked cells by PET.

Methods: We transduced nonhuman primate CD34+ hematopoietic cells with a lentiviral vector expressing a PET reporter gene, the mutant viral herpes simplex virus type 1-thymidine kinase (HSV1-sr39tk) gene.