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Updated: Dec 10, 2025
Quantitative Multispectral Analysis Following Fluorescent Tissue Transplant for Visualization of Cell Origins, Types, and Interactions
Published on: September 22, 2013
Dual-agent fluorescent labeling of soft-tissue sarcomas improves the contrast based upon targeting both interstitial
Hira S Sardar1, Qais Zai2, Xiaochun Xu3
1Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire.
Background:
Current practices for fluorescence-guided cancer surgery utilize a single fluorescent agent, but homogeneous distribution throughout the tumor is difficult to achieve. We hypothesize that administering a perfusion and a molecular-targeted agent at their optimal administration-to-imaging time will improve whole-tumor contrast.
Experimental Design:
Mice bearing subcutaneous xenograft human synovial sarcomas were administered indocyanine green (ICG) (3 mg/kg) or ABY-029 (48.7 μg/kg)-an epidermal growth factor receptor-targeted Affibody molecule-alone or in combination. Fluorescence contrast and signal distribution were compared between treatment groups. Two commercial fluorescence imaging systems were tested for simultaneous imaging of ICG and ABY-029.
Results:
ABY-029 has a moderate positive correlation with viable tumor (ρ = 0.2 ± 0.4), while ICG demonstrated a strong negative correlation (ρ = -0.6 ± 0.1). The contrast-to-variance ratio was highest in the ABY-029 +ICG (2.5 ± 0.8), compared to animals that received ABY-029 (2.3 ± 0.8) or ICG (2.0 ± 0.5) alone. Moreover, the combination of ABY-029 + ICG minimizes the correlation between viable tumor and fluorescence intensity (ρ = -0.1 ± 0.2) indicating the fluorescence signal distribution is more homogeneous throughout the tumor milieu.
Conclusion:
Dual-agent imaging utilizing a single channel in a commercial fluorescence-guided imaging system tailored for IRDye 800CW is a promising method to increase tumor contrast in a clinical setting.
