Assessing cell trafficking by noninvasive imaging techniques: applications in experimental tumor immunology

Tracer methods are increasingly being exploited to examine the trafficking patterns of cells transferred into recipient models of diseases, to optimize immune cell therapies, and to assess cancer gene therapy and vaccines in various cancer models. In animal cancer models, noninvasive monitoring by imaging tumor response could significantly facilitate the development of immune cell therapies against cancer. Currently, ex vivo lymphocyte labeling is primarily done by direct labeling. Major advances in cell labeling procedures have led to the use of reporter constructs to assess gene expression in vivo. With this novel technique, the reporter gene marks the cell with a specific protein that distinguishes the cell and its cellular progeny from other cells after migration, homing and mitosis. Several in vivo imaging procedures, including positron emission tomography, single photon emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, have been rescaled for studies in small animals. Other methods initially used for in vitro bioluminescence and fluorescence studies have also been refined for in vivo studies. When combined, these methods allow to assess cell trafficking in a noninvasive fashion, beyond lymphocyte response to inflammation, including metastatic diffusion and stem cell transplantation.