Figure 2.

NF-κB bioluminescence precedes and correlates with disease. A: Photons emitted from ventral aspects of mice with increasing age. Left: a representative TCR⁺Id⁺Luc⁺ mouse investigated at the indicated time-points. Right: an Id⁺Luc⁺ control. B–D: Focal disease. A common light intensity bar for all panels in B–D is shown (right). B: Early detection of skin disease on the dorsal aspect of head and upper thorax. Ears and eyes are traced in some frames with a black line. C: A representative 20-week-old triply transgenic mouse with severe skin disease including scarring is shown. Focal areas detected by bioluminescence (left) and photo (right), have been numbered. D: Early signals from the hind paw of a mouse that later developed arthritis. Clinical arthritis was only evident starting from week 14 (asterisks). E: Photons from ventral organs after sacrifice and skin removal. The ventricle and kidney are abbreviated as Vent and Kidn. The surface trace of the colon in the TCR⁺Id⁺Luc⁺ mouse is indicated with black lines. F: Signals from isolated organs postdissection. G: a) A whole spleen from a triple transgenic mouse displaying a focus of high bioluminescence signals (detected by the IVIS100) is shown. b) Light emissions from cross sections of the same spleen with focus were detected by a microscope with an ultrasensitive CCD camera (see Materials and Methods). Light emissions can be seen from the white pulp (W, traced with a black line). c) Immunofluorescence of an area with intense signals (see arrow from b) stained for IgG (red), peanut agglutinin [PNA] (green), and nuclei (blue). An active immune response with PNA⁺ IgG⁺ germinal centers (yellow), PNA⁺ IgG⁻ germinal centers (green), and IgG⁺ B cells (red) can been seen. H: NF-κB-dependent bioluminescence in triple transgenic treated with L-012; note the colocalization of NF-κB activity and inflammatory (L-012) signals from area of the distal colon. The inset shows NF-κB-dependent light emission postdissection from the distal third of the colon.