Non-invasive imaging of gene expression and protein secretion dynamics in living mice
The liver is the largest organ and main source for secretory proteins with functions critical to health and disease. Tools to non-invasively study the fate of secretory proteins in vivo are scarce. Here we present a multimodal reporter mouse to query the expression and secretion dynamics of prothrombin, a prototypical liver-derived secretory protein. Using optical in vivo imaging, we confirm known modifiers of prothrombin expression and secretion. We discover extrahepatic prothrombin expression in multiple sites (including testes, placenta, brain, kidney, heart and lymphatic system) and in emerging tumors, resulting in significant amounts of tumor-derived prothrombin in the blood with procoagulant properties. Syngeneic cell lines from this mouse model enable unravelling regulatory mechanisms in high resolution, and in a scalable format ex vivo. Beyond discovering new functions in the hemostatic system, this model allows identifying rheostats in the cross-talk between gene expression and availability of a secretory protein. It is also a valuable resource for uncovering novel (tissue-specific) therapeutic vulnerabilities.