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Updated: Jul 13, 2026
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In Vivo Imaging and Quantitation of the Host Angiogenic Response in Zebrafish Tumor Xenografts
Published on: August 14, 2019
Quantification of human angiogenesis in immunodeficient mice using a photon counting-based method.
Zhihong Dong1, Kathleen G Neiva, Taocong Jin
1University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1078, USA.
Biotechniques
|August 19, 2007
Summary
This study developed a novel noninvasive method to track human angiogenesis in mice, crucial for testing new antiangiogenic cancer drugs. The technique accurately quantifies drug effects on blood vessel formation, improving preclinical research for cancer therapies.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Vascular Biology
- Preclinical Drug Development
Background:
- Antiangiogenic drug testing in cancer requires animal models due to complex cellular interactions.
- Current in vivo methods often use histology, demanding large samples and analyzing murine, not human, vasculature.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a quantitative, noninvasive method for assessing human angiogenesis in vivo.
- To enable reliable evaluation of antiangiogenic drug efficacy using human cells in a murine host.
Main Methods:
- Engineered functional human blood vessels in immunodeficient mice using human endothelial cells expressing luciferase.
- Quantified angiogenesis over time noninvasively using bioluminescence imaging.
- Validated the method by correlating bioluminescence changes with microvessel density post-treatment with a vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitor.
Main Results:
- Successfully created a humanized angiogenesis model in mice.
- Demonstrated a strong correlation between bioluminescence reduction and microvessel density decrease (9.12-fold vs. 9.16-fold).
- Validated the efficacy of PTK/ZK, a vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitor.
Conclusions:
- The described method offers a quantitative, noninvasive approach for studying human angiogenesis in vivo.
- This technique facilitates more accurate preclinical assessment of anti-cancer drugs targeting angiogenesis.
- Improves the translational relevance of preclinical drug testing by using human endothelial cells.
