Imaging and Targeted Therapy of Multidrug Resistance. Final Report

One focus area of DOE Office of Science was the Imaging of Gene Expression in Health and Disease in real time in tissue culture, whole animals and ultimately patients. Investigators of the Molecular Imaging Group, Washington University Medical School, ascribed to this objective and a major focus of this group directly tied into the DOE program through their efforts targeting the multidrug resistance gene (MDR1). Our plans for continuation of the program were to extend and build on this line of investigation, incorporating new molecular tools into our methodology to selectively inhibit MDR1 gene expression with novel modulation strategies. Two approaches were to be pursued: (1) high throughput screening of compounds that disrupted mutant p53 transactivation of the MDR1 promoter, and (2) knockdown of MDR1 messenger RNA with retroviral-mediated delivery of small interfering RNA constructs. These would be combined with our continuing effort to synthesize ligands and examine structure-activity relationships of bis-salicylaldehydes labeled with gallium-68 to generate PET agents for imaging MDR1 P-glycoprotein function. We would be uniquely positioned to correlate therapeutic modulation of MDR1 gene expression and protein function in the same systems in vivo using PET and bioluminescence reporters. Use of animal models such as the mdr1a/1b(-/-) gene deleted mice would also have enabled refined analysis of modulation and tracer pharmacokinetics in vivo. Overall, this DOE program and resultant tools would enable direct monitoring of novel therapeutic strategies and the MDR phenotype in relation to gene expression and protein function in vivo.