Molecular imaging of endogenous mRNA expression in a mouse tumor model by adenovirus harboring trans-splicing ribozyme.

We previously showed that a trans-splicing ribozyme reprograms tumor-related genes at the mRNA level, resulting in the expression of therapeutic genes and that this approach can be efficiently employed to target specific molecules. Here, we show that trans-splicing ribozyme technology can be applied in molecular imaging of specific RNA expression in living animals. We exemplify this concept successfully by imaging mouse cytoskeleton-associated protein 2 (mCKAP2) expression in intrahepatic tumor nodules using systemically delivered adenovirus harboring mCKAP2-specific trans-splicing ribozyme.