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Updated: May 26, 2026
Radionuclide-fluorescence Reporter Gene Imaging to Track Tumor Progression in Rodent Tumor Models
Published on: March 13, 2018
In vivo quantification of tumor receptor binding potential with dual-reporter molecular imaging
Kenneth M Tichauer1, Kimberley S Samkoe, Kristian J Sexton
1Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA. Kenneth.Tichauer@dartmouth.edu
Purpose:
Receptor availability represents a key component of current cancer management. However, no approaches have been adopted to do this clinically, and the current standard of care is invasive tissue biopsy. A dual-reporter methodology capable of quantifying available receptor binding potential of tumors in vivo within a clinically relevant time scale is presented.
Procedures:
To test the methodology, a fluorescence imaging-based adaptation was validated against ex vivo and in vitro measures of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) binding potential in four tumor lines in mice, each line expected to express a different level of EGFR.
Results:
A strong correlation was observed between in vivo and ex vivo measures of binding potential for all tumor lines (r = 0.99, p < 0.01, slope = 1.80 ± 0.48, and intercept = -0.58 ± 0.84) and between in vivo and in vitro for the three lines expressing the least amount of EGFR (r = 0.99, p < 0.01, slope = 0.64 ± 0.32, and intercept = 0.47 ± 0.51).
Conclusions:
By providing a fast and robust measure of receptor density in tumors, the presented methodology has powerful implications for improving choices in cancer intervention, evaluation, and monitoring, and can be scaled to the clinic with an imaging modality like SPECT.
Insights
A new dual-reporter method non-invasively quantifies tumor receptor binding potential. This advance offers a faster alternative to biopsies for guiding cancer treatment decisions.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Biomedical Imaging
- Molecular Biology
Background:
- Receptor availability is crucial for cancer management.
- Current clinical methods rely on invasive tissue biopsies.
- There is a need for non-invasive methods to assess receptor binding potential.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present a novel dual-reporter methodology for quantifying tumor receptor binding potential in vivo.
- To validate this methodology against established ex vivo and in vitro measures.
- To establish a clinically relevant, non-invasive approach for cancer assessment.
Main Methods:
- A fluorescence imaging-based adaptation of the dual-reporter methodology was developed.
- The method was tested in four mouse tumor lines with varying epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression levels.
- In vivo measurements were compared with ex vivo and in vitro binding potential data.
Main Results:
- A strong correlation (r=0.99, p<0.01) was found between in vivo and ex vivo EGFR binding potential across all tumor lines.
- High correlation (r=0.99, p<0.01) was also observed between in vivo and in vitro measures for tumors with lower EGFR expression.
- The results demonstrate the accuracy and reliability of the in vivo methodology.
Conclusions:
- The presented dual-reporter methodology provides a fast and robust measure of tumor receptor density.
- This approach has significant implications for improving cancer intervention, evaluation, and monitoring.
- The methodology is scalable for clinical use with imaging modalities like SPECT.
