Establishment of cell strains stably-transfected with luciferase gene mediated by retrovirus and their detection with bioluminescence imaging system / 解放军医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To establish cell strains stably transfected with Luciferase gene (Luc2), which was mediated by retrovirus, and explore the relationship between the number of Luc2-positive cells and light flux from bioluminescence imaging system by experiments in vitro and in vivo. Methods We co-transfected pMX-Luc2 plasmid and pMD.G plasmid into 293T gag-pol cells to get retrovirus expressing Luc2 gene. Stable Luc2 positive cell lines were generated and screened by transduction of Retro-Luc2 in mouse colon cancer cell line CT26, human non-small cell lung cancer cell line NCI-H446, human colon cancer cell line HT-29, human ovarian carcinoma cell line SKOV3 and human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line SMMC-7721, all of them were identified by bioluminescence imaging system. Different numbers of SKOV3-Luc2 cells ranging from 10 to 10000 were plated onto culture dishes. Two xenograft models of ovarian cancer were reproduced by subcutaneous injection of 200μl SKOV3-Luc2 cell suspension with different concentrations (1×107, 5×106, 2.5×106, 1×106, 5×105, 2.5×105, 1×105 and 5×104/ml) into 16 sites on the back of 4 nude mice, or intravenous injection of 1×106 or 3 ×106 SKOV3-Luc2 cells into the tail vein. Light flux value of SKOV3-Luc2 cells in dishes and in mice was measured by bioluminescence imaging system. Results Retro-Luc2 was constructed successfully and expressed Luc2 stably in transduced CT26, NCI-H446, HT-29, SKOV3 and SMMC-7721 cell lines. Light flux was correlated in a linear manner with the number of Luc2-positive cells in dishes and in mice (R2=0.944, β=0.972; R2=0.991, β=0.996; R2=0.351, β=0.628; P < 0.01). Conclusion Luc2-positive cell lines could be established rapidly and accurately by infecting tumor cells with retrovirus expressing Luc2. The number of Luc2 positive cells is significantly related in a linear manner to light flux from bioluminescence imaging system in vitro and in vivo.