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In Vivo Assessment of Hypoxia Levels in Pancreatic Tumors Using a Dual-Modality Ultrasound/Photoacoustic Imaging System. MICROMACHINES 2021; 12:mi12060668. [PMID: 34200388 PMCID: PMC8229757 DOI: 10.3390/mi12060668] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2021] [Revised: 06/02/2021] [Accepted: 06/03/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Noninvasive anatomical and functional imaging has become an essential tool to evaluate tissue oxygen saturation dynamics in preclinical or clinical studies of hypoxia. Our dual-wavelength technique for photoacoustic (PA) imaging based on the differential absorbance spectrum of oxyhemoglobin (oxy-Hb) and deoxyhemoglobin (deoxy-Hb) can quantify tissue oxygen saturation using the intrinsic contrast property. PA imaging of tissue oxygen saturation can be used to monitor tumor-related hypoxia, which is a particularly relevant functional parameter of the tumor microenvironment that has a strong influence on tumor aggressiveness. The simultaneous acquisition of anatomical and functional information using dual-modality ultrasound (US) and PA imaging technology enhances the preclinical applicability of the method. Here, the developed dual-modality US/PA system was used to measure relative tissue oxygenation using the dual-wavelength technique. Tissue oxygen saturation was quantified in a pancreatic tumor mouse model. The differences in tissue oxygenation were detected by comparing pancreatic samples from normal and tumor-bearing mice at various time points after implantation. The use of an in vivo pancreatic tumor model revealed changes in hypoxia at various stages of tumor growth. The US/PA imaging data positively correlated with the results of immunohistochemical staining for hypoxia. Thus, our dual-modality US/PA imaging system can be used to reliably assess and monitor hypoxia in pancreatic tumor mouse models. These findings enable the use of a combination of US and PA imaging to acquire anatomical and functional information on tumor growth and to evaluate treatment responses in longitudinal preclinical studies.
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Liu L, O’Kelly D, Schuetze R, Carlson G, Zhou H, Trawick ML, Pinney KG, Mason RP. Non-Invasive Evaluation of Acute Effects of Tubulin Binding Agents: A Review of Imaging Vascular Disruption in Tumors. Molecules 2021; 26:2551. [PMID: 33925707 PMCID: PMC8125421 DOI: 10.3390/molecules26092551] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2021] [Revised: 04/15/2021] [Accepted: 04/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Tumor vasculature proliferates rapidly, generally lacks pericyte coverage, and is uniquely fragile making it an attractive therapeutic target. A subset of small-molecule tubulin binding agents cause disaggregation of the endothelial cytoskeleton leading to enhanced vascular permeability generating increased interstitial pressure. The resulting vascular collapse and ischemia cause downstream hypoxia, ultimately leading to cell death and necrosis. Thus, local damage generates massive amplification and tumor destruction. The tumor vasculature is readily accessed and potentially a common target irrespective of disease site in the body. Development of a therapeutic approach and particularly next generation agents benefits from effective non-invasive assays. Imaging technologies offer varying degrees of sophistication and ease of implementation. This review considers technological strengths and weaknesses with examples from our own laboratory. Methods reveal vascular extent and patency, as well as insights into tissue viability, proliferation and necrosis. Spatiotemporal resolution ranges from cellular microscopy to single slice tomography and full three-dimensional views of whole tumors and measurements can be sufficiently rapid to reveal acute changes or long-term outcomes. Since imaging is non-invasive, each tumor may serve as its own control making investigations particularly efficient and rigorous. The concept of tumor vascular disruption was proposed over 30 years ago and it remains an active area of research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li Liu
- Department of Radiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA; (L.L.); (D.O.); (R.S.); (H.Z.)
| | - Devin O’Kelly
- Department of Radiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA; (L.L.); (D.O.); (R.S.); (H.Z.)
| | - Regan Schuetze
- Department of Radiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA; (L.L.); (D.O.); (R.S.); (H.Z.)
| | - Graham Carlson
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76798, USA; (G.C.); (M.L.T.); (K.G.P.)
| | - Heling Zhou
- Department of Radiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA; (L.L.); (D.O.); (R.S.); (H.Z.)
| | - Mary Lynn Trawick
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76798, USA; (G.C.); (M.L.T.); (K.G.P.)
| | - Kevin G. Pinney
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76798, USA; (G.C.); (M.L.T.); (K.G.P.)
| | - Ralph P. Mason
- Department of Radiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA; (L.L.); (D.O.); (R.S.); (H.Z.)
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Matsumoto KI, Mitchell JB, Krishna MC. Multimodal Functional Imaging for Cancer/Tumor Microenvironments Based on MRI, EPRI, and PET. Molecules 2021; 26:1614. [PMID: 33799481 PMCID: PMC8002164 DOI: 10.3390/molecules26061614] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2021] [Revised: 03/09/2021] [Accepted: 03/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Radiation therapy is one of the main modalities to treat cancer/tumor. The response to radiation therapy, however, can be influenced by physiological and/or pathological conditions in the target tissues, especially by the low partial oxygen pressure and altered redox status in cancer/tumor tissues. Visualizing such cancer/tumor patho-physiological microenvironment would be a useful not only for planning radiotherapy but also to detect cancer/tumor in an earlier stage. Tumor hypoxia could be sensed by positron emission tomography (PET), electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) oxygen mapping, and in vivo dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) MRI. Tissue oxygenation could be visualized on a real-time basis by blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) and/or tissue oxygen level dependent (TOLD) MRI signal. EPR imaging (EPRI) and/or T1-weighted MRI techniques can visualize tissue redox status non-invasively based on paramagnetic and diamagnetic conversions of nitroxyl radical contrast agent. 13C-DNP MRI can visualize glycometabolism of tumor/cancer tissues. Accurate co-registration of those multimodal images could make mechanisms of drug and/or relation of resulted biological effects clear. A multimodal instrument, such as PET-MRI, may have another possibility to link multiple functions. Functional imaging techniques individually developed to date have been converged on the concept of theranostics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ken-ichiro Matsumoto
- Quantitative RedOx Sensing Group, Department of Basic Medical Sciences for Radiation Damages, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, Quantum Medical Science Directorate, 4-9-1 Anagawa, Inage-ku, Chiba 263-8555, Japan
| | - James B. Mitchell
- Radiation Biology Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-1002, USA;
| | - Murali C. Krishna
- Radiation Biology Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-1002, USA;
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Ghosh P, Guo Y, Ashrafi A, Chen J, Dey S, Zhong S, Liu J, Campbell J, Konduri PC, Gerberich J, Garrossian M, Mason RP, Zhang L, Liu L. Oxygen-Enhanced Optoacoustic Tomography Reveals the Effectiveness of Targeting Heme and Oxidative Phosphorylation at Normalizing Tumor Vascular Oxygenation. Cancer Res 2020; 80:3542-3555. [PMID: 32546631 DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.can-19-3247] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2019] [Revised: 03/20/2020] [Accepted: 06/12/2020] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Multispectral optoacoustic tomography (MSOT) is an emerging noninvasive imaging modality that can detect real-time dynamic information about the tumor microenvironment in humans and animals. Oxygen enhanced (OE)-MSOT can monitor tumor vasculature and oxygenation during disease development or therapy. Here, we used MSOT and OE-MSOT to examine in mice the response of human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) xenografts to a new class of antitumor drugs, heme-targeting agents heme-sequestering peptide 2 (HSP2) and cyclopamine tartrate (CycT). HSP2 inhibits heme uptake, while CycT inhibits heme synthesis in NSCLC cells, where heme is essential for ATP generation via oxidative phosphorylation. HSP2 and CycT can inhibit ATP generation and thereby suppress NSCLC cell tumorigenic functions. MSOT showed that treatment of NSCLC tumors with HSP2 or CycT reduced total hemoglobin, increased oxygen saturation, and enhanced the amplitude of response to oxygen gas breathing challenge. HSP2 and CycT normalized tumor vasculature and improved tumor oxygenation, where levels of several hypoxia markers in NSCLC tumors were reduced by treatment with HSP2 or CycT. Furthermore, treatment with HSP2 or CycT reduced levels of angiogenic factor VEGFA, its receptor VEGFR1, and vascular marker CD34. Together, our data show that heme-targeting drugs HSP2 and CycT elicit multiple tumor-suppressing functions, such as inhibiting angiogenic function, normalizing tumor vasculature, alleviating tumor hypoxia, and inhibiting oxygen consumption and ATP generation. SIGNIFICANCE: Heme-targeting agents HSP2 and CycT effectively normalize tumor vasculature and alleviate tumor hypoxia, raising the possibility of their combination with chemo-, radio-, and immunotherapies to improve antitumor efficacy.See related commentary by Tomaszewski, p. 3461.
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Affiliation(s)
- Poorva Ghosh
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas
| | - Yihang Guo
- Department of Radiology, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas.,Department of Gastrointestinal surgery, The Third XiangYa Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Adnin Ashrafi
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas
| | - Jingyu Chen
- Department of Radiology, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas.,Ultrasound Department, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
| | - Sanchareeka Dey
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas
| | - Shigen Zhong
- Department of Radiology, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas.,Department of Ultrasound, The General Hospital of Chongqing, Chongqing, China
| | - Jie Liu
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas.,The Third Central Hospital of Tianjin, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Extracorporeal Life Support for Critical Diseases, Artificial Cell Engineering Technology Research Center, Tianjin Institute of Hepatobiliary Disease, Department of Clinical Laboratory, Hedong District, Tianjin, China
| | - James Campbell
- Department of Radiology, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas
| | | | - Jeni Gerberich
- Department of Radiology, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas
| | | | - Ralph P Mason
- Department of Radiology, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas
| | - Li Zhang
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas.
| | - Li Liu
- Department of Radiology, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas.
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Matsumoto KI, Mitchell JB, Krishna MC. Effects of oxygen challenging to tissue redox and pO 2 status. Free Radic Biol Med 2019; 130:343-347. [PMID: 30391676 PMCID: PMC8202967 DOI: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2018.10.454] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2018] [Revised: 10/11/2018] [Accepted: 10/31/2018] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Nitroxide free radicals can serve as redox-sensitive MRI contrast agents useful to image the redox status of tissue of interest. In this study, the effect of oxygen content in the inspired gas on the kinetics of metabolism of three nitroxides has been evaluated in the muscle and tumor in mice. SCC tumors (approximate size of 1.0 cm3) on the right hind leg of female C3H/Hen MTV- mice were prepared. Three nitroxides, 3-carboxy-2,2,5,5-tetramethylpyrrolidine-N-oxyl (CxP), 3-carbamoyl-2,2,5,5-tetramethylpyrrolidine-N-oxyl (CmP), and 4-hydroxy-tetramethylpiperidine-N-oxyl (TEMPOL), having different lipophilicities were compared using MR redox imaging. T1-mapping of the tissues was obtained using a multi-slice multi-echo (MSME) sequence with several TRs. The three nitroxides showed differences in accumulation and metabolism/clearance in muscle and tumor. The cell impermeable nitroxide CxP displayed kinetic patterns of slow enhancement followed by a slow decline typical of clearance rather than metabolism. The cell permeable CmP on the other hand showed a relatively faster uptake and metabolism with a modestly higher rate of metabolism in the tumor than muscle. The TEMPOL on the other hand displayed a rapid uptake and reduction with a trend of significantly rapid decay rate in tumor tissue, while slightly higher maximum signal intensity and slower decay rate was observed in normal muscle. The reduction rate of TEMPOL in the tumor was significantly enhanced when the breathing gas had 100%-oxygen while it was not significantly different in the muscle. EPR oximetry studies monitoring the oxygen dependent linewidth of TEMPOL showed that the pO2 in the healthy tissue during carbogen breathing significantly increased normal tissue pO2 compared to air breathing whereas breathing 100%-oxygen made normal tissue slight hypoxic. Since TEMPOL is a radioprotector, our studies show that a combination of 100%-oxygen breathing and TEMPOL has a potential to enhance radioprotective effects to normal tissue.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ken-Ichiro Matsumoto
- Quantitative RedOx Sensing Team, Department of Basic Medical Sciences for Radiation Damages, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology, Chiba-shi, Chiba 263-8555, Japan.
| | - James B Mitchell
- Radiation Biology Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-1002, USA
| | - Murali C Krishna
- Radiation Biology Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-1002, USA
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Zhou H, Arias-Ramos N, López-Larrubia P, Mason RP, Cerdán S, Pacheco-Torres J. Oxygenation Imaging by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Methods. Methods Mol Biol 2018; 1718:297-313. [PMID: 29341016 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-7531-0_18] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Oxygen monitoring is a topic of exhaustive research due to its central role in many biological processes, from energy metabolism to gene regulation. The ability to monitor in vivo the physiological distribution and the dynamics of oxygen from subcellular to macroscopic levels is a prerequisite to better understand the mechanisms associated with both normal and disease states (cancer, neurodegeneration, stroke, etc.). This chapter focuses on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) based techniques to assess oxygenation in vivo. The first methodology uses injected fluorinated agents to provide quantitative pO2 measurements with high precision and suitable spatial and temporal resolution for many applications. The second method exploits changes in endogenous contrasts, i.e., deoxyhemoglobin and oxygen molecules through measurements of T 2* and T 1, in response to an intervention to qualitatively evaluate hypoxia and its potential modulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heling Zhou
- Prognostic Imaging Research Laboratory, Department of Radiology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Nuria Arias-Ramos
- Departament de Bioquímica i Biologia Molecular, Unitat de Bioquímica de Biociències, Edifici Cs, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
| | - Pilar López-Larrubia
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas 'Alberto Sols' C.S.I.C./U.A.M., Madrid, Spain
| | - Ralph P Mason
- Prognostic Imaging Research Laboratory, Department of Radiology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Sebastián Cerdán
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas 'Alberto Sols' C.S.I.C./U.A.M., Madrid, Spain
| | - Jesús Pacheco-Torres
- Instituto de Neurociencias, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Universidad Miguel Hernández, San Juan de Alicante, Alicante, Spain.
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