Intravital mesoscopic fluorescence molecular tomography allows non-invasive in vivo monitoring and quantification of breast cancer growth dynamics

• Published in: Communications biology Vol. 4; no. 1; pp. 556 - 11
• Main Authors: Ozturk, Mehmet S., Montero, Marta G., Wang, Ling, Chaible, Lucas M., Jechlinger, Martin, Prevedel, Robert
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 11.05.2021; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 14; 14/63; 59; 631/1647/245/2160; 631/1647/245/2186; 631/1647/245/2221; 631/1647/245/2225; 631/1647/245/2226; Animals; Biology; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Breast cancer; Breast Neoplasms - diagnostic imaging; Breast Neoplasms - metabolism; Cell Line, Tumor; Disease Models, Animal; Female; Fluorescence; Humans; Intravital Microscopy - methods; Life Sciences; Mammary gland; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Spatial discrimination; Tomography; Tomography - methods; Tomography, X-Ray Computed - methods; Tumor Burden - physiology; Tumor cells
• ISSN: 2399-3642; 2399-3642
• DOI: 10.1038/s42003-021-02063-8

Preclinical breast tumor models are an invaluable tool to systematically study tumor progression and treatment response, yet methods to non-invasively monitor the involved molecular and mechanistic properties under physiologically relevant conditions are limited. Here we present an intravital mesoscopic fluorescence molecular tomography (henceforth IFT) approach that is capable of tracking fluorescently labeled tumor cells in a quantitative manner inside the mammary gland of living mice. Our mesoscopic approach is entirely non-invasive and thus permits prolonged observational periods of several months. The relatively high sensitivity and spatial resolution further enable inferring the overall number of oncogene-expressing tumor cells as well as their tumor volume over the entire cycle from early tumor growth to residual disease following the treatment phase. Our IFT approach is a promising method for studying tumor growth dynamics in a quantitative and longitudinal fashion in-vivo. Mehmet S. Ozturk et al. present an intravital mesoscopic fluorescence tomography (IFT) technique that is capable of tracking fluorescently labeled tumor cells inside living mice over several months. It demonstrates a promising new method for studying tumor growth dynamics in a quantitative and longitudinal fashion in-vivo.