The bioluminescent imaging of spontaneously occurring tumors in immunocompetent ODD-luciferase bearing transgenic mice.

The imaging of spontaneously occurring tumors in mice poses many technical and logistical problems. Recently a mouse model was generated in which a chimeric protein consisting of HIF-1α oxygen-dependent degradation domain (ODD) fused to luciferase was ubiquitously expressed in all tissues. Hypoxic stress leads to the accumulation of ODD-luciferase in the tissues of this mouse model which can be identified by noninvasive bioluminescence measurement. Crossing this transgenic mouse with tumorigenic mice yields solid tumors with hypoxic cores that may be successfully imaged and characterized using the technique described herein.