The progress of PET based reporter gene imaging

More than two decades of intense research have allowed gene therapy to move from the laboratory to the clinical setting, where its use for the treatment of human pathologies has been considerably increased in the last years. However, many crucial questions remain to be solved in this challenging field. In vivo imaging with positron emission tomography (PET) by combination of the appropriate PET reporter gene and PET reporter probe could provide invaluable qualitative and quantitative information to answer multiple unsolved questions about gene therapy. PET imaging could be used to define parameters not available by other techniques that are of substantial interest not only for the proper understanding of the gene therapy process, but also for its future development and clinical application in humans.