Monitoring early tumor response to drug therapy with diffuse optical tomography

J Biomed Opt. 2012 Jan;17(1):016014. doi: 10.1117/1.JBO.17.1.016014.

Abstract

Although anti-angiogenic agents have shown promise as cancer therapeutics, their efficacy varies between tumor types and individual patients. Providing patient-specific metrics through rapid noninvasive imaging can help tailor drug treatment by optimizing dosages, timing of drug cycles, and duration of therapy-thereby reducing toxicity and cost and improving patient outcome. Diffuse optical tomography (DOT) is a noninvasive three-dimensional imaging modality that has been shown to capture physiologic changes in tumors through visualization of oxygenated, deoxygenated, and total hemoglobin concentrations, using non-ionizing radiation with near-infrared light. We employed a small animal model to ascertain if tumor response to bevacizumab (BV), an anti-angiogenic agent that targets vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), could be detected at early time points using DOT. We detected a significant decrease in total hemoglobin levels as soon as one day after BV treatment in responder xenograft tumors (SK-NEP-1), but not in SK-NEP-1 control tumors or in non-responder control or BV-treated NGP tumors. These results are confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging T2 relaxometry and lectin perfusion studies. Noninvasive DOT imaging may allow for earlier and more effective control of anti-angiogenic therapy.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Analysis of Variance
  • Angiogenesis Inhibitors / pharmacology
  • Animals
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized / pharmacology
  • Bevacizumab
  • Drug Monitoring / methods*
  • Female
  • Fluorescent Dyes
  • Hemoglobins / metabolism
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
  • Mice
  • Mice, Nude
  • Neoplasms, Experimental / blood supply*
  • Neoplasms, Experimental / drug therapy*
  • Neoplasms, Experimental / metabolism
  • Neovascularization, Pathologic / drug therapy
  • Oxyhemoglobins / metabolism
  • Perfusion Imaging
  • Plant Lectins
  • Tomography, Optical / methods*
  • Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays / methods*

Substances

  • Angiogenesis Inhibitors
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized
  • Fluorescent Dyes
  • Hemoglobins
  • Oxyhemoglobins
  • Plant Lectins
  • Bevacizumab
  • deoxyhemoglobin