Bioluminescence imaging of DNA synthetic phase of cell cycle in living animals

PLoS One. 2013;8(1):e53291. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0053291. Epub 2013 Jan 3.

Abstract

Bioluminescence reporter proteins have been widely used in the development of tools for monitoring biological events in living cells. Currently, some assays like flow cytometry analysis are available for studying DNA synthetic phase (S-phase) targeted anti-cancer drug activity in vitro; however, techniques for imaging of in vivo models remain limited. Cyclin A2 is known to promote S-phase entry in mammals. Its expression levels are low during G1-phase, but they increase at the onset of S-phase. Cyclin A2 is degraded during prometaphase by ubiquitin-dependent, proteasome-mediated proteolysis. In this study, we have developed a cyclin A2-luciferase (CYCA-Luc) fusion protein targeted for ubiquitin-proteasome dependent degradation, and have evaluated its utility in screening S-phase targeted anti-cancer drugs. Similar to endogenous cyclin A2, CYCA-Luc accumulates during S-phase and is degraded during G2/M-phase. Using Cdc20 siRNA we have demonstrated that Cdc20 can mediate CYCA-Luc degradation. Moreover, using noninvasive bioluminescent imaging, we demonstrated accumulation of CYCA-Luc in response to 10-hydroxycamptothecin (HCPT), an S-phase targeted anti-cancer drug, in human tumor cells in vivo and in vitro. Our results indicate that a CYCA-Luc fusion reporter system can be used to monitor S-phase of cell cycle, and evaluate pharmacological activity of anti-cancer drug HCPT in real time in vitro and in vivo, and is likely to provide an important tool for screening such drugs.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / pharmacology
  • Camptothecin / analogs & derivatives
  • Camptothecin / pharmacology
  • Cell Cycle
  • Cyclin A2 / metabolism
  • DNA / biosynthesis*
  • Genes, Reporter
  • HeLa Cells
  • Humans
  • Luminescent Measurements*
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • Mice, Nude
  • Microscopy / methods*
  • RNA, Small Interfering / metabolism
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / metabolism
  • S Phase
  • Whole Body Imaging / methods*

Substances

  • Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic
  • Cyclin A2
  • RNA, Small Interfering
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins
  • DNA
  • 10-hydroxycamptothecin
  • Camptothecin

Grants and funding

This work was partly supported by grants from the National Basic Research Project of China (2011CB707705) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30973377 and 31271068). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. No additional external funding received for this study.