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Rational design of genetically encoded reporter genes for optical imaging of apoptosis

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Abstract

Apoptosis is a process in which cells are genetically regulated to cause a series of changes in morphology and metabolic activity, which ultimately lead to cell death. Apoptosis plays a vital role in the entire life cycle of an organism. Too much or too little apoptosis can cause a variety of diseases. Therefore, efficient and convenient methods for detecting apoptosis are necessary for clinical treatment and drug development. Traditional methods for detecting apoptosis may cause damage to the body during sample collection, such as for flow cytometry analysis. So it is necessary to monitor apoptosis without invasion in vivo. Optical imaging technique provides a more sensitive and economical way for apoptosis visualization. A subset of engineered reporter genes based on fluorescent proteins or luciferases are currently developed to monitor the dynamic changes in apoptotic markers, such as activation of caspases and exposure of phosphatidylserine on the surface of dying cells. These reporters detect apoptosis when cells have not undergone significant morphological changes, providing conditions for early diagnosis of tumors. In addition, these reporters show considerable value in high-throughput screening of apoptosis-related drugs and evaluation of their efficacy in treating tumors. In this review, we will discuss the recent research progress in the optical imaging of apoptosis based on the genetically encoded reporter genes.

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(Reprinted with permission from [31]. Copyright 2019 American Chemical Society.)

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(Reprinted with permission from [33]. Copyright 2019 American Chemical Society.)

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(Reprinted with permission from [88]. Copyright 2019 American Chemical Society.)

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81772010) and The National Key Research and Development Program of China (973 Program) (Grant No. 2017YFA0205202).

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  1. Institute of Medical Research, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, 710072, China

    Zhijing Xu, Yingzhuang Song & Fu Wang

  2. Engineering Research Center of Molecular and Neuro Imaging, Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi’an, 710071, China

    Fu Wang

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Xu, Z., Song, Y. & Wang, F. Rational design of genetically encoded reporter genes for optical imaging of apoptosis. Apoptosis 25, 459–473 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10495-020-01621-5

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