Bioluminescent bacterial imaging in vivo

Area of Science:

• Biomedical imaging
• Cancer research
• Microbiology

Background:

• Bacteria are promising vectors for cancer gene and cell therapy due to their tumor-homing abilities.
• Engineering bacteria with the lux gene cassette enables their detection and tracking using bioluminescence imaging (BLI).

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the protocol for whole body bioluminescence imaging (BLI) of bacterial trafficking in live mice for cancer research.
• To demonstrate the application of BLI for studying bacterial distribution in tumors and the gastrointestinal tract.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing whole body bioluminescence imaging (BLI) with systems like IVIS to detect lux-tagged bacteria in live, tumor-bearing mice.
• Administering bacteria systemically and monitoring their preferential growth within tumors over time.
• Visualizing bacterial location and levels in 2D and 3D.

Main Results:

• BLI allows for real-time, in vivo visualization of bacterial location and levels within tumors.
• The method is effective for tracking bacterial colonization in various tumor xenograft types and bacterial species.
• Visualization of commensal bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract is also achievable.

Conclusions:

• Whole body BLI is a powerful, cost-effective, and real-time imaging strategy for studying bacterial behavior in vivo.
• This technique is ideal for cancer research, particularly in gene therapy and infectious disease studies involving bacteria.
• BLI provides valuable spatial and temporal data on bacterial trafficking and tumor colonization.