KEYWORDS: Cancer, Tissues, Thermography, Tumor growth modeling, Thermal modeling, Tumors, 3D modeling, Thermal energy technology, Systems modeling, Real time imaging
Dynamic thermal imaging has improved bulk tissue characterization, but fails to capture subtle thermal property differences in heterogeneous systems. We present focal dynamic thermal imaging (FDTI), a simple, label-free, and high-resolution technology for delineating tissue heterogeneity. Stimulation of focal regions of absorptive materials with a narrow beam, low power, and low cost 405 nm laser locally perturbs the thermal equilibrium. Measurement of phantoms, ex vivo tissue, and in vivo animal models of cancer reveals finite structures of materials and delineates diseased from healthy tissue. Portable FDTI holds promise to capture the heterogeneous nature of malignant tissue.
LS301 is a promising NIR fluorescence probe for targeting brain glioma cancer. The co-localization of LS31 and 5-ALA induced PpIX in vitro and in vivo enables LS301 to guide PpIX fluorescence image surgery. Moreover, LS301 showed no negative impact on 5-ALA-PpIX PDT outcome in brain glioma cells and mouse tumor model. Therefore, the implementation of LS301 and PpIX has potential to improve tumor resection surgery and PDT treatment for better tumor outcomes.
Significance: The blood–brain barrier (BBB) is a major obstacle to detecting and treating brain tumors. Overcoming this challenge will facilitate the early and accurate detection of brain lesions and guide surgical resection of tumors.
Aim: We generated an orthotopic brain tumor model that simulates the pathophysiology of gliomas at early stages; determine the BBB integrity and breakdown over the time course of tumor progression using generic and cancer-targeted near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent molecular probes.
Approach: We developed an intracranial tumor xenograft model that rapidly reestablished BBB integrity and monitored tumor progression by bioluminescence imaging. Sham control mice were injected with phosphate-buffered saline only. Fluorescence molecular tomography (FMT) was used to quantify the uptake of tumor-targeted and passive NIR fluorescent imaging agents in orthotopic glioma (U87-GL-GFP PDE7B H217Q cells) tumor model. Cancer-induced and transient (with focused ultrasound, FUS) disruption of BBB integrity was monitored with NIR fluorescent dyes.
Results: Stereotactic injection of 50,000 cells into mouse brain allowed rapid reestablishment of BBB integrity within a week, as determined by the inability of both tumor-targeted and generic NIR imaging agents to extravasate into the brain. Tumor-induced BBB disruption was observed 7 weeks after tumor implantation. FUS achieved a similar effect at any time point after reestablishing BBB integrity. While tumor uptake and retention of the passive NIR dye, indocyanine green, was negligible, both actively tumor-targeting agents exhibited selective accumulation in the tumor region. The tumor-targeting molecular probe that clears rapidly from nontumor brain tissue exhibits higher contrast than the analogous vascular-targeting agent and helps delineate tumors from sham control.
Conclusions: We highlight the utility of FMT imaging for longitudinal assessment of brain tumors and the interplay between the stages of BBB disruption and molecular probe retention in tumors, with potential application to other neurological diseases.
The large size of many near infrared (NIR) fluorescent nanoparticles prevents rapid extravasation from blood vessels and subsequent diffusion to tumors. This confines in vivo uptake to the peritumoral space and results in high liver retention. We developed a viscosity modulated approach to synthesize ultrasmall silver sulfide quantum dots (QDs) with distinct tunable light emission from visible to near-infrared in spectrum and a QD core diameter between less than 5 nm. Further functionalization of these Ag2S QDs with different type of molecules such as targeting peptides, retains monodisperse, relatively small water soluble QDs without loss of the functionality of the peptide’s high binding affinity to cancerous tumor. Fluorescence and electron microscopy showed that selective integrin-mediated internalization was observed only in cancer cells treated with the peptide-labeled QDs, demonstrating that the unlabeled hydrophilic nanoparticles exhibit characteristics of negatively charged fluorescent dye molecules, which typically do not internalize in cells. The biodistribution profiles of intravenously administered QDs in different mouse models of cancer reveal an exceptionally high tumor-to-liver uptake ratio, suggesting that the small sized QDs evaded conventional opsonization and subsequent high uptake in the liver and spleen. The seamless tunability of the QDs over a wide spectral range with only a small increase in size, as well as the ease of labeling the bright and non-cytotoxic QDs with biomolecules, provides a platform for multiplexing information, tracking the trafficking of single molecules in cells, and selectively targeting disease biomarkers in living organisms without premature QD opsonization in circulating blood.
KEYWORDS: Tumors, In vivo imaging, Luminescence, Confocal microscopy, Cancer, Breast cancer, Chemistry, Near infrared, Imaging systems, Near infrared spectroscopy
Cyclic arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (cRGD) peptides are well known to target ανβ3 integrin expressed on cancer cells and neovasculature. Conjugation of these peptides with dyes, drugs, antibodies and other biomolecules through covalent linkers provides a facile way to deliver these products to tumor cells for targeted cancer therapy and diagnosis. Click chemistry and acid-amine couplings are widely used conjugation strategies. However, the effects of different linkers and the distance between the cRGD and the conjugates on the binding of cRGD ligand with ανβ3 has been underexplored.
In this present study, we prepared cRGD-conjugates using different linkers and determined how they altered the tumor targeting efficiency in vitro and in vivo. The results demonstrate that different linkers significantly altered the pharmacokinetics of the cRGD conjugates and the tumor uptake kinetics. Unlike large antibodies, this preliminary finding shows that linkers used to attach drugs and fluorescent molecular probes to small peptides play a major role in the accuracy of tumor targeting and treatment outcomes. As a result, considerable attention should be paid to the nature of linkers used in the design of molecular probes and targeted therapeutics.
Inspired by the visual system of the morpho butterfly, we have designed, fabricated, tested and clinically translated an ultra-sensitive, light weight and compact imaging sensor capable of simultaneously capturing near infrared (NIR) and visible spectrum information. The visual system of the morpho butterfly combines photosensitive cells with spectral filters at the receptor level. The spectral filters are realized by alternating layers of high and low dielectric constant, such as air and cytoplasm. We have successfully mimicked this concept by integrating pixelated spectral filters, realized by alternating silicon dioxide and silicon nitrate layers, with an array of CCD detectors. There are four different types of pixelated spectral filters in the imaging plane: red, green, blue and NIR. The high optical density (OD) of all spectral filters (OD>4) allow for efficient rejections of photons from unwanted bands. The single imaging chip weighs 20 grams with form factor of 5mm by 5mm.
The imaging camera is integrated with a goggle display system. A tumor targeted agent, LS301, is used to identify all spontaneous tumors in a transgenic PyMT murine model of breast cancer. The imaging system achieved sensitivity of 98% and selectivity of 95%. We also used our imaging sensor to locate sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) in patients with breast cancer using indocyanine green tracer. The surgeon was able to identify 100% of SLNs when using our bio-inspired imaging system, compared to 93% when using information from the lymphotropic dye and 96% when using information from the radioactive tracer.
Colitis-associated cancer (CAC) arises from premalignant flat lesions of the colon, which are difficult to detect with current endoscopic screening approaches. We have developed a complementary fluorescence and polarization reporting strategy that combines the unique biochemical and physical properties of dysplasia and cancer for real-time detection of these lesions. Using azoxymethane-dextran sodium sulfate (AOM-DSS) treated mice, which recapitulates human CAC and dysplasia, we show that an octapeptide labeled with a near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent dye selectively identified all precancerous and cancerous lesions. A new thermoresponsive sol-gel formulation allowed topical application of the molecular probe during endoscopy. This method yielded high contrast-to-noise ratios (CNR) between adenomatous tumors (20.6±1.65) and flat lesions (12.1±1.03) and surrounding uninvolved colon tissue versus CNR of inflamed tissues (1.62±0.41). Incorporation of nanowire-filtered polarization imaging into NIR fluorescence endoscopy shows a high depolarization contrast in both adenomatous tumors and flat lesions in CAC, reflecting compromised structural integrity of these tissues. Together, the real-time polarization imaging provides real-time validation of suspicious colon tissue highlighted by molecular fluorescence endoscopy.
We have developed a wearable, fluorescence goggle based system for intraoperative imaging of tumors and image guidance in oncologic surgery. Our system can detect fluorescence from cancer selective near infra-red (NIR) contrast agent, facilitating intraoperative visualization of surgical margins and tumors otherwise not apparent to the surgeon. The fluorescence information is displayed directly to the head mounted display (HMD) of the surgeon in real time, allowing unhindered surgical procedure under image guidance. This system has the potential of improving surgical outcomes in oncologic surgery and reduce the chances of cancer recurrence.
We report two methods for quantitatively determining maximal imaging depth from thick tissue images captured using all–near-infrared (NIR) multiphoton microscopy (MPM). All-NIR MPM is performed using 1550 nm laser excitation with NIR detection. This method enables imaging more than five-fold deep in thick tissues in comparison with other NIR excitation microscopy methods. In this study, we show a correlation between the multiphoton signal along the depth of tissue samples and the shape of the corresponding empirical probability density function (pdf) of the photon counts. Histograms from this analysis become increasingly symmetric with the imaging depth. This distribution transitions toward the background distribution at higher imaging depths. Inspired by these observations, we propose two independent methods based on which one can automatically determine maximal imaging depth in the all-NIR MPM images of thick tissues. At this point, the signal strength is expected to be weak and similar to the background. The first method suggests the maximal imaging depth corresponds to the deepest image plane where the ratio between the mean and median of the empirical photon-count pdf is outside the vicinity of 1. The second method suggests the maximal imaging depth corresponds to the deepest image plane where the squared distance between the empirical photon-count mean obtained from the object and the mean obtained from the background is greater than a threshold. We demonstrate the application of these methods in all-NIR MPM images of mouse kidney tissues to study maximal depth penetration in such tissues.
Optical imaging enables real-time visualization of intrinsic and exogenous contrast within biological tissues. Applications in human medicine have demonstrated the power of fluorescence imaging to enhance visualization in dermatology, endoscopic procedures, and open surgery. Although few optical contrast agents are available for human medicine at this time, fluorescence imaging is proving to be a powerful tool in guiding medical procedures. Recently, intraoperative detection of fluorescent molecular probes that target cell-surface receptors has been reported for improvement in oncologic surgery in humans. We have developed a novel system, optical projection of acquired luminescence (OPAL), to further enhance real-time guidance of open oncologic surgery. In this method, collected fluorescence intensity maps are projected onto the imaged surface rather than via wall-mounted display monitor. To demonstrate proof-of-principle for OPAL applications in oncologic surgery, lymphatic transport of indocyanine green was visualized in live mice for intraoperative identification of sentinel lymph nodes. Subsequently, peritoneal tumors in a murine model of breast cancer metastasis were identified using OPAL after systemic administration of a tumor-selective fluorescent molecular probe. These initial results clearly show that OPAL can enhance adoption and ease-of-use of fluorescence imaging in oncologic procedures relative to existing state-of-the-art intraoperative imaging systems.
The era of molecular medicine has ushered in the development of microscopic methods that can report molecular processes in thick tissues with high spatial resolution. A commonality in deep-tissue microscopy is the use of near-infrared (NIR) lasers with single- or multiphoton excitations. However, the relationship between different NIR excitation microscopic techniques and the imaging depths in tissue has not been established. We compared such depth limits for three NIR excitation techniques: NIR single-photon confocal microscopy (NIR SPCM), NIR multiphoton excitation with visible detection (NIR/VIS MPM), and all-NIR multiphoton excitation with NIR detection (NIR/NIR MPM). Homologous cyanine dyes provided the fluorescence. Intact kidneys were harvested after administration of kidney-clearing cyanine dyes in mice. NIR SPCM and NIR/VIS MPM achieved similar maximum imaging depth of ∼100 μm . The NIR/NIR MPM enabled greater than fivefold imaging depth (>500 μm ) using the harvested kidneys. Although the NIR/NIR MPM used 1550-nm excitation where water absorption is relatively high, cell viability and histology studies demonstrate that the laser did not induce photothermal damage at the low laser powers used for the kidney imaging. This study provides guidance on the imaging depth capabilities of NIR excitation-based microscopic techniques and reveals the potential to multiplex information using these platforms.
KEYWORDS: Luminescence, Goggles, Imaging systems, Signal to noise ratio, Near infrared, Signal detection, Liver, Surgery, CMOS technology, Optical sensors
We have developed a near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence goggle system based on the complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor active pixel sensor imaging and see-through display technologies. The fluorescence goggle system is a compact wearable intraoperative fluorescence imaging and display system that can guide surgery in real time. The goggle is capable of detecting fluorescence of indocyanine green solution in the picomolar range. Aided by NIR quantum dots, we successfully used the fluorescence goggle to guide sentinel lymph node mapping in a rat model. We further demonstrated the feasibility of using the fluorescence goggle in guiding surgical resection of breast cancer metastases in the liver in conjunction with NIR fluorescent probes. These results illustrate the diverse potential use of the goggle system in surgical procedures.
Fluorescence microscopy offers high sensitivity for disease diagnosis. However, little structural information is revealed by this method, requiring another technique to localize the source of fluorescence. We developed a complementary fluorescence-polarization microscope. We used a division-of-focal-plane charge coupled device polarization sensor to enable real-time video rate polarization imaging without any moving parts. The polarization information provided by the microscope enabled detection of structural element and complements the fluorescence information. Application of this multimodal system for cancer imaging using a tumor selective molecular probe revealed the association of diminished structural integrity of tumor tissue with high fluorescence of the imaging agent compared to surrounding normal tissue. This study demonstrates a new paradigm to improve cancer detection and diagnosis.
We have developed a fluorescence goggle device for intraoperative oncologic imaging. With our system design, the
surgeon can directly visualize the fluorescence information from the eyepieces in real time without any additional
monitor, which can improve one's coordination and surgical accuracy. In conjunction with targeting fluorescent dyes,
the goggle device can successfully detect tumor margins and small nodules that are not obvious to naked eye. This can
potentially decrease the incidence of incomplete resection.
KEYWORDS: Luminescence, Tumors, Fluorescence resonance energy transfer, In vivo imaging, Molecules, Quenching (fluorescence), Quantum efficiency, Tissues, Cancer, Near infrared
Quench-based probes utilize unique characteristics of fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) to enhance contrast
upon de-quenching. This mechanism has been used in a variety of molecular probes for imaging of cancer related
enzyme activity such as matrix metalloproteinases, cathepsins and caspases. While non-fluorescent upon administration,
fluorescence can be restored by separation of donor and acceptor, resulting in higher intensity in the presence of
activator. Along with decreased quantum yield, FRET also results in altered fluorescence lifetime. Time-domain imaging
can further enhance contrast and information yield from quench-based probes. We present in vivo time-domain imaging
for detecting activation of quench-based probes.
Quench-based probes utilize unique characteristics of fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) to enhance contrast
upon de-quenching. This mechanism has been used in a variety of molecular probes for imaging of cancer related
enzyme activity such as matrix metalloproteinases, cathepsins and caspases. While non-fluorescent upon administration,
fluorescence can be restored by separation of donor and acceptor, resulting in higher intensity in the presence of
activator. Along with decreased quantum yield, FRET also results in altered fluorescence lifetime. Time-domain imaging
can further enhance contrast and information yield from quench-based probes. We present in vivo time-domain imaging
for detecting activation of quench-based probes. Time-domain diffuse optical imaging was performed to assess the FRET
and quenching in living mice with orthotopic breast cancer. Tumor contrast enhancement was accompanied by increased
fluorescence lifetime after administration of quenched probes selective for matrix metalloproteinases while no significant
change was observed for non-quenched probes for integrin receptors. These results demonstrate the utility of timedomain
imaging for detection of cancer-related enzyme activity in vivo.
KEYWORDS: Luminescence, Tumors, Fluorescence resonance energy transfer, Tissues, Breast cancer, In vivo imaging, Molecular energy transfer, Fluorescence lifetime imaging, Cancer, Near infrared
Cancer-related enzyme activity can be detected noninvasively using activatable fluorescent molecular probes. In contrast to "always-on" fluorescent molecular probes, activatable probes are relatively nonfluorescent at the time of administration due to intramolecular fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). Enzyme-mediated hydrolysis of peptide linkers results in reduced FRET and increase of fluorescence yield. Separation of signal from active and inactive probe can be difficult with conventional intensity-based fluorescence imaging. Fluorescence lifetime (FLT) measurement is an alternative method to detect changes in FRET. Thus, we investigate FLT imaging for in vivo detection of FRET-based molecular probe activation in an orthotopic breast cancer model. Indeed, the measured FLT of the enzyme-activatable molecular probe increases from 0.62 ns just after injection to 0.78 ns in tumor tissue after 4 h. A significant increase in FLT is not observed for an always-on targeted molecular probe with the same fluorescent reporter. These results show that FLT contrast is a powerful addition to preclinical imaging because it can report molecular activity in vivo due to changes in FRET. Fluorescence lifetime imaging exploits unique characteristics of fluorescent molecular probes that can be further translated into clinical applications, including noninvasive detection of cancer-related enzyme activity.
We have developed a novel real-time intraoperative fluorescence imaging device that can detect near-infrared (NIR)
fluorescence and map sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs). In contrast to conventional imaging systems, this device is compact,
portable, and battery-operated. It is also wearable and thus allows hands-free operation of clinicians. The system directly
displays the fluorescence in its goggle eyepiece, eliminating the need for a remote monitor. Using this device in murine
lymphatic mapping, the SLNs stained with indocyanine green (ICG) can be readily detected. Fluorescence-guided SLN
resection under the new device was performed with ease. Ex vivo examination of resected tissues also revealed high
fluorescence level in the SLNs. Histology further confirmed the lymphatic nature of the resected SLNs.
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