Multispectral fluorescence imaging of human ovarian and fallopian tube tissue for early-stage cancer detection

With early detection, 5-year survival rates for ovarian cancer exceed 90%, yet no effective early screening method exists. Emerging consensus suggests over 50% of the most lethal form of the disease originates in the fallopian tube. Twenty-eight women undergoing oophorectomy or debulking surgery provided informed consent for the use of surgical discard tissue samples for multispectral fluorescence imaging. Using multiple ultraviolet and visible excitation wavelengths and emissions bands, 12 fluorescence and 6 reflectance images of 47 ovarian and 31 fallopian tube tissue samples were recorded. After imaging, each sample was fixed, sectioned, and stained for pathological evaluation. Univariate logistic regression showed cancerous tissue samples had significantly lower intensity than noncancerous tissue for 17 image types. The predictive power of multiple image types was evaluated using multivariate logistic regression (MLR) and quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA). Two MLR models each using two image types had receiver operating characteristic curves with area under the curve exceeding 0.9. QDA determined 56 image type combinations with perfect resubstituting using as few as five image types. Adaption of the system for future in vivo fallopian tube and ovary endoscopic imaging is possible, which may enable sensitive detection of ovarian cancer with no exogenous contrast agents.

Biologically derived epicardial patch induces macrophage mediated pathophysiologic repair in chronically infarcted swine hearts

There are nearly 65 million people with chronic heart failure (CHF) globally, with no treatment directed at the pathologic cause of the disease, the loss of functioning cardiomyocytes. We have an allogeneic cardiac patch comprised of cardiomyocytes and human fibroblasts on a bioresorbable matrix. This patch increases blood flow to the damaged heart and improves left ventricular (LV) function in an immune competent rat model of ischemic CHF. After 6 months of treatment in an immune competent Yucatan mini swine ischemic CHF model, this patch restores LV contractility without constrictive physiology, partially reversing maladaptive LV and right ventricular remodeling, increases exercise tolerance, without inducing any cardiac arrhythmias or a change in myocardial oxygen consumption. Digital spatial profiling in mice with patch placement 3 weeks after a myocardial infarction shows that the patch induces a CD45pos immune cell response that results in an infiltration of dendritic cells and macrophages with high expression of macrophages polarization to the anti-inflammatory reparative M2 phenotype. Leveraging the host native immune system allows for the potential use of immunomodulatory therapies for treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases not limited to ischemic CHF.