Secreted blood reporters: insights and applications

Secreted reporters detected in body fluids (blood, serum or urine) have shown to be simple and useful tools for ex vivo real-time monitoring of in vivo biological processes. Here we explore the most commonly used secreted blood reporters in experimental animals: secreted alkaline phosphatase, soluble marker peptides derived from human carcinoembryonic antigen and human chorionic gonadotropin, as well as Gaussia luciferase. We also comment on other recently discovered secreted luciferases and their potential use as blood reporters for multiplexing applications.