Abstract | This chapter elaborates the application of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopy to gene therapy. Gene therapy can theoretically modify specific genes to correct the underlying cause of the disease, whereas normal management of an altered disease phenotype requires agents that interact with gene products, or are themselves gene products. Successful gene therapy is often limited by the inefficient delivery of genes because of short in vivo half-lives, lack of cell-specific targeting, and low transfection efficiencies. MRI has been used to image gene delivery by conjugating paramagnetic contrast agents to the gene delivery vector. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) could play an important role in gene therapy, both as a tool to assess gene expression and as a noninvasive method to determine the efficacy of gene therapies. MRS can provide biochemical and metabolic information on intact cells, isolated organs, or different areas of the body in vivo. The ability of MRS to distinguish signals from chemically distinct compounds also offers the potential to measure gene expression. The development of smart contrast agents may allow the visualization of the effects of gene expression through physiologic changes within the cell that cause an increase in MRI-detectable signal, whereas the delivery of marker genes that encode for MR visible metabolites means that MRS has exciting prospects in monitoring the effects of therapeutic intervention. |
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