In vivo mouse ^{99m}Tc SPECT scans with bioluminescence imaging validation

The aim of this in vivo study was to evaluate the feasibility of ^{99m}Tc-labeled cartilage link protein (CLP) probe for the single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) of lung cancer. Xenograft mouse model were established from a luciferase expressing cell line derived from a human lung cancer. Bioluminescence imaging (BLI) was carried out prior to ^{99m}Tc-CLP and ^{99m}Tc-methoxyisobutyl isonitrile (MIBI) SPECT scans. The image quality of ^{99m}Tc-CLP scan was validated with BLI and compared with well established ^{99m}Tc-MIBI scan. Results of multimodal imaging analyses suggested that ^{99m}Tc-CLP was a sensitive and reliable SPECT agent for lung cancer imaging.