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Updated: Sep 30, 2025
Diagnosis of Neoplasia in Barrett’s Esophagus using Vital-dye Enhanced Fluorescence Imaging
Published on: May 11, 2014
Detection of Barrett's neoplasia with a near-infrared fluorescent heterodimeric peptide
Jing Chen1, Yang Jiang2, Tse-Shao Chang3
1Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
Background:
Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) is a molecularly heterogeneous disease with poor prognosis that is rising rapidly in incidence. We aimed to demonstrate specific binding by a peptide heterodimer to Barrett's neoplasia in human subjects.
Methods:
Peptide monomers specific for EGFR and ErbB2 were arranged in a heterodimer configuration and labeled with IRDye800. This near-infrared (NIR) contrast agent was topically administered to patients with Barrett's esophagus (BE) undergoing either endoscopic therapy or surveillance. Fluorescence images were collected using a flexible fiber accessory passed through the instrument channel of an upper gastrointestinal endoscope. Fluorescence images were collected from 31 BE patients. A deep learning model was used to segment the target (T) and background (B) regions.
Results:
The mean target-to-background (T/B) ratio was significantly greater for high grade dysplasia (HGD) and EAC versus BE, low grade dysplasia (LGD), and squamous epithelium. At a T/B ratio of 1.5, sensitivity and specificity of 94.1 % and 92.6 %, respectively, were achieved for the detection of Barrett's neoplasia with an area under the curve of 0.95. No adverse events attributed to the heterodimer were found. EGFR and ErbB2 expression were validated in the resected specimens.
Conclusions:
This "first-in-human" clinical study demonstrates the feasibility of detection of early Barrett's neoplasia using a NIR-labeled peptide heterodimer.
