Tracking leukemic T‐cell transcriptional dynamics in vivo with a blood‐based reporter assay
Alfred G. Tamayo,
Syukri Shukor,
Alexandra Burr,
Patrick Erickson,
Biju Parekkadan
Affiliations
Alfred G. Tamayo
Center for Surgery, Innovation, and Bioengineering Department of Surgery Harvard Medical School Massachusetts General Hospital Shriners Hospitals for Children Boston MA USA
Syukri Shukor
Center for Surgery, Innovation, and Bioengineering Department of Surgery Harvard Medical School Massachusetts General Hospital Shriners Hospitals for Children Boston MA USA
Alexandra Burr
Department of Biomedical Engineering Rutgers University Piscataway NJ USA
Patrick Erickson
Department of Biomedical Engineering Rutgers University Piscataway NJ USA
Biju Parekkadan
Center for Surgery, Innovation, and Bioengineering Department of Surgery Harvard Medical School Massachusetts General Hospital Shriners Hospitals for Children Boston MA USA
Transcriptional dynamics of cancer cells govern cell fate decisions and are therapeutically actionable drug targets. In this study, we engineered a circulating cancer cell line that secretes a luciferase reporter to capture constitutive and circadian clock‐driven transcription dynamics over the course of a day. Engineered human leukemic T cells (Jurkat) were observed to rhythmically secrete luciferase in a continuous flow cell culture system. When transplanted in vivo, engineered leukemic cells caused circadian plasma luciferase activity and had expected pathological signs of leukemic disease. This technique is rapid and noninvasive, requiring only a few microliters of media or blood, and can aid in investigating relationships between in vivo cancer cell signaling and behavior, such as diet or sleep.
