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Review
. 2016 Oct;12(5):553-559.
doi: 10.1007/s12015-016-9670-8.

Cellular GFP Toxicity and Immunogenicity: Potential Confounders in in Vivo Cell Tracking Experiments

Amir Mehdi Ansari  1 , A Karim Ahmed  1 , Aerielle E Matsangos  1 , Frank Lay  1 , Louis J Born  1 , Guy Marti  1 , John W Harmon  2 , Zhaoli Sun  3
Affiliations
Review

Cellular GFP Toxicity and Immunogenicity: Potential Confounders in in Vivo Cell Tracking Experiments

Amir Mehdi Ansari et al. Stem Cell Rev Rep. 2016 Oct.

Abstract

Green Fluorescent protein (GFP), used as a cellular tag, provides researchers with a valuable method of measuring gene expression and cell tracking. However, there is evidence to suggest that the immunogenicity and cytotoxicity of GFP potentially confounds the interpretation of in vivo experimental data. Studies have shown that GFP expression can deteriorate over time as GFP tagged cells are prone to death. Therefore, the cells that were originally marked with GFP do not survive and cannot be accurately traced over time. This review will present current evidence for the immunogenicity and cytotoxicity of GFP in in vivo studies by characterizing these responses.

Keywords: Cell death; Cytotoxicity; Green fluorescent protein (GFP); Immunogenicity; In vivo cell tracking; Reporter gene.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors of this manuscript do not indicate any conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Molecular Structure of GFP. The tertiary structure of GFP is a beta barrel structure made up of 11 antiparallel β-strands (1) and 6 center-positioned alpha helices (2). Interrupting the stranded alpha helix, there are short helical loops on the ends of the cylindrical structure (3). A covalently bonded chromophore, 4-(p-hydroxybenzylidene) imidazolidin-5-one, is located and protected at the center of the structure (4)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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