Noninvasive molecular imaging makes the observation and comprehensive understanding of complex biological processes possible. Photoacoustic imaging (PAI) is a fast evolving hybrid imaging technology enabling in vivo imaging with high sensitivity and spatial resolution in deep tissue. Among the various probes developed for PAI, genetically encoded reporters attracted increasing attention of researchers, which provide improved performance by acquiring images of a PAI reporter gene’s expression driven by disease-specific enhancers/promoters. Here, we present a brief overview of recent studies about the existing photoacoustic reporter genes (RGs) for noninvasive molecular imaging, such as the pigment enzyme reporters, fluorescent proteins and chromoproteins, photoswitchable proteins, including their properties and potential applications in theranostics. Furthermore, the challenges that PAI RGs face when applied to the clinical studies are also examined.

中文翻译：

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用于无创分子成像和治疗诊断的光声报告基因

无创分子成像使观察和全面了解复杂的生物过程成为可能。光声成像 (PAI) 是一种快速发展的混合成像技术，能够在深部组织中实现高灵敏度和空间分辨率的体内成像。在为 PAI 开发的各种探针中，基因编码的报告基因引起了研究人员越来越多的关注，它们通过获取由疾病特异性增强子/启动子驱动的 PAI 报告基因表达的图像来提供改进的性能。在这里，我们简要概述了有关用于非侵入性分子成像的现有光声报告基因 (RGs) 的最新研究，例如色素酶报告基因、荧光蛋白和色蛋白、光开关蛋白、包括它们的特性和在治疗学中的潜在应用。此外，还检查了 PAI RG 在应用于临床研究时面临的挑战。