HaloTag: a novel reporter gene for positron emission tomography

Among the many molecular imaging techniques, reporter gene imaging has been a dynamic area of research. The HaloTag protein is a modified haloalkane dehalogenase which was designed to covalently bind to synthetic ligands (i.e. the HaloTag ligands [HTL]). Covalent bond formation between the HaloTag protein and the chloroalkane within the HTL occurs rapidly under physiological conditions, which is highly specific and essentially irreversible. Over the years, HaloTag technology has been investigated for various applications such as in vitro/in vivo imaging, protein purification/trafficking, high-throughput assays, among others. The goal of this study is to explore the use of the HaloTag protein as a novel reporter gene for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. By attaching a HaloTag-reactive chloroalkane to 1, 4, 7-triazacyclononane-N, N', N ''-triacetic acid (NOTA) through hydrophilic linkers, the resulting NOTA-conjugated HTLs were labeled with Cu-64 and tested for PET imaging in living mice bearing 4T1-HaloTag-ECS tumors, which stably express the HaloTag protein on the cell surface. Significantly higher uptake of Cu-64-NOTA-HTL-S (which contains a short hydrophilic linker) in the 4T1-HaloTag-ECS than the non-HaloTag-expressing 4T1 tumors was observed, which demonstrated the HaloTag specificity of Cu-64-NOTA-HTL-S and warranted future investigation of the HaloTag protein as a PET reporter gene.