Monitoring of prostate cancer growth and metastasis using a PSA luciferase report plasmid in a mouse model

ABSTRACT Objective To construct a PSA luciferase report plasmid and monitor the growth and metastasis of prostate cancer after emasculation in SCID mice. Methods PSA promoter sequence and luciferase gene were amplified by PCR and subsequently inserted into pZsGreen1-1 vector to construct pPSA-FL-Luc vector. LNCaP cells that were stably transfected with pPSA-FL-Luc were used to establish a SCID mouse xenograft model. Then, the growth and metastasis of prostate cancer were monitored via living imaging. Results We successfully constructed a PSA luciferase plasmid, pPSA-FL-Luc. DHT enhanced luciferase activity in a concentration-dependent manner in 293T cells with pPSA-FL-Luc transfection. Prostate cancer SCID mouse model was established with pPSA-FL-Luc transfected LNCaP cells. In tumor bearing mice with or without emasculation, pPSA-FL-Luc plasmid was applied to monitored tumor growth and metastasis based on bioluminescence imaging. Conclusions We construct a pPSA-FL-Luc plasmid, which stably expresses luciferase and can be applied to monitor tumor development in a prostate SCID mouse model.