Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-6bb9c88b65-fsdjw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-07-23T17:30:52.303Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

8 - Optical imaging

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2011

By
Nathan G. Dolloff  and
Wafik S. El-Deiry
Edited by
R. Nick Bryan
R. Nick Bryan
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania
Get access

Summary

Optical imaging is a ubiquitous component of biomedical research because of the applicability of fluorescent and bioluminescent proteins to a virtually infinite number of experimental assays. Green fluorescent protein (GFP), for example, can be used for tracing cell migration and protein localization, quantifying reporter gene expression and monitoring tumor growth in vivo, among other uses. Osamu Shimomura, Martin Chalfie, and Roger Tsien were awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their discovery and development of GFP, a contribution that has benefited all fields of biology and medicine. In the sections that follow, we discuss the natural origin and principles of bioluminescence and fluorescence, and provide examples of their application in the field of cancer research.

Bioluminescence: a historical perspective

Numerous organisms are bioluminescent or, by definition, emit light. Bioluminescent species evolved independently at least 30 times, which is evident from the lack of homology in light-producing enzymes (luciferases) and the chemical diversity of their substrates (luciferins), highlighting the evolutionary importance of this trait. The luminescence of bacteria, fungi, squid, and fish is thought to serve diverse biological functions. The firefly uses luminescent signaling to communicate with potential mates and the scale worm evades predators by producing and shedding a luminous epithelial layer that serves as a glowing decoy. The study of these intriguing behaviors has led to the identification of light-producing proteins, luciferase and GFP, which are now cornerstones of optical imaging.

Information

Type
Chapter
Information
Introduction to the Science of Medical Imaging , pp. 172 - 182
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Wilson, T, Hastings, JW.Bioluminescence. Annu Rev Cell Dev Biol 1998; 14: 197–230.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shimomura, O, Johnson, FH, Saiga, Y.Extraction, purification and properties of aequorin, a bioluminescent protein from the luminous hydromedusan Aequorea. J Cell Comp Physiol 1962; 59: 223–39.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wet, JR, Wood, KV, Helinski, DR, DeLuca, M.Cloning of firefly luciferase cDNA and the expression of active luciferase in Escherichia coli. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1985; 82: 7870–3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Prasher, DC, Eckenrode, VK, Ward, WW, Prendergast, FG, Cormier, MJ.Primary structure of the Aequorea victoria green-fluorescent protein. Gene 1992; 111: 229–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Luker, GD, Luker, KE.Optical imaging: current applications and future directions. J Nucl Med 2008; 49: 1–4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heim, R, Prasher, DC, Tsien, RY.Wavelength mutations and posttranslational autoxidation of green fluorescent protein. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1994; 91: 12501–4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim, SH, Nakagawa, H, Navaraj, A, et al. Tumorigenic conversion of primary human esophageal epithelial cells using oncogene combinations in the absence of exogenous Ras. Cancer Res 2006; 66: 10415–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dolloff, NG, Russell, MR, Loizos, N, Fatatis, A.Human bone marrow activates the Akt pathway in metastatic prostate cells through transactivation of the alpha-platelet-derived growth factor receptor. Cancer Res 2007; 67: 555–62.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Russell, MR, Jamieson, WL, Dolloff, NG, Fatatis, A.The alpha-receptor for platelet-derived growth factor as a target for antibody-mediated inhibition of skeletal metastases from prostate cancer cells. Oncogene 2009; 28: 412–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harms, JF, Welch, DR.MDA-MB-435 human breast carcinoma metastasis to bone. Clin Exp Metastasis 2003; 20: 327–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Edinger, M, Cao, YA, Verneris, MR, et al. Revealing lymphoma growth and the efficacy of immune cell therapies using in vivo bioluminescence imaging. Blood 2003; 101: 640–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jenkins, , Hornig, YS, Oei, Y, Dusich, J, Purchio, T.Bioluminescent human breast cancer cell lines that permit rapid and sensitive in vivo detection of mammary tumors and multiple metastases in immune deficient mice. Breast Cancer Res 2005; 7: R444–54.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Folkman, J, Cole, P, Zimmerman, S.Tumor behavior in isolated perfused organs: in vitro growth and metastases of biopsy material in rabbit thyroid and canine intestinal segment. Ann Surg 1966; 164: 491–502.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mayes, P, Dicker, D, Liu, Y, El-Deiry, W.Noninvasive vascular imaging in fluorescent tumors using multispectral unmixing. Biotechniques 2008; 45: 459–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yang, M, Baranov, E, Li, XM, et al. Whole-body and intravital optical imaging of angiogenesis in orthotopically implanted tumors. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2001; 98: 2616–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tumeh, PC, Lerner, JM, Dicker, DT, El-Deiry, WS.Differentiation of vascular and non-vascular skin spectral signatures using in vivo hyperspectral radiometric imaging. Cancer Biol Ther 2007; 6: 447–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dicker, DT, Lerner, J, Belle, P, et al. Differentiation of normal skin and melanoma using high resolution hyperspectral imaging. Cancer Biol Ther 2006; 5: 1033–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bonnet, D, Dick, JE.Human acute myeloid leukemia is organized as a hierarchy that originates from a primitive hematopoietic cell. Nat Med 1997; 3: 730–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dalerba, P, Cho, RW, Clarke, MF.Cancer stem cells: models and concepts. Annu Rev Med 2007; 58: 267–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hirschmann-Jax, C, Foster, AE, Wulf, GG, et al. A distinct “side population” of cells with high drug efflux capacity in human tumor cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2004; 101: 14228–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O'Brien, CA, Pollett, A, Gallinger, S, Dick, JE.A human colon cancer cell capable of initiating tumour growth in immunodeficient mice. Nature 2007; 445: 106–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hart, LS, El-Deiry, WS.Invincible, but not invisible: imaging approaches toward in vivo detection of cancer stem cells. J Clin Oncol 2008; 26: 2901–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlsen, H, Moskaug, J, Fromm, SH, Blomhoff, R.In vivo imaging of NF-kappa B activity. J Immunol 2002; 168: 1441–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ciana, P, Raviscioni, M, Mussi, P, et al. In vivo imaging of transcriptionally active estrogen receptors. Nat Med 2003; 9: 82–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wang, W, El-Deiry, WS.Bioluminescent molecular imaging of endogenous and exogenous p53-mediated transcription in vitro and in vivo using an HCT116 human colon carcinoma xenograft model. Cancer Biol Ther 2003; 2: 196–202.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brader, P, Riedel, CC, Woo, Y, et al. Imaging of hypoxia-driven gene expression in an orthoptic liver tumor model. Mol Cancer Ther 2007; 6: 2900–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
El-Deiry, WS, Sigman, CC, Kelloff, GJ.Imaging and oncologic drug development. J Clin Oncol 2006; 24: 3261–73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wang, W, Kim, SH., El-Deiry, WS.Small-molecule modulators of p53 family signaling and antitumor effects in p53-deficient human colon tumor xenografts. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2006; 103: 11003–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zhang, L, Lee, KC, Bhojani, MS, et al. Molecular imaging of Akt kinase activity. Nat Med 2007; 13: 1114–19.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Li, JJ, Chu, Y, Lee, BYH, Xie, XS.Enzymatic signal amplification of molecular beacons for sensitive DNA detection. Nucleic Acids Res 2008; 36: e36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chen, AK, Behlke, MA, Tsourkas, A.Avoiding false-positive signals with nuclease-vulnerable molecular beacons in single living cells. Nucleic Acids Res 2007; 35: e105.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thiagarajan, P, Tait, JF.Binding of annexin V/placental anticoagulant protein I to platelets: evidence for phosphatidylserine exposure in the procoagulant response of activated platelets. J Biol Chem 1990; 265: 17420–3.Google ScholarPubMed
Koopman, G, Reutelingsperger, CP, Kuijten, GA, et al. Annexin V for flow cytometric detection of phosphatidylserine expression on B cells undergoing apoptosis. Blood 1994; 84: 1415–20.Google Scholar
Petrovsky, A, Schellenberger, E, Josephson, L, Weissleder, R, Bogdanov, A.Near-infrared fluorescent imaging of tumor apoptosis. Cancer Res 2003; 63: 1936–42.Google ScholarPubMed
Finnberg, N, Kim, SH, Furth, EE, et al. Non-invasive fluorescence imaging of cell death in fresh human colon epithelia treated with 5-Fluorouracil, CPT-11 and/or TRAIL. Cancer Biol Ther 2005; 4: 937–42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Han, Z, Fu, A, Wang, H, et al. Noninvasive assessment of cancer response to therapy. Nat Med 2008; 14: 343–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hsiung, PL, Hardy, J, Friedland, S, et al. Detection of colonic dysplasia in vivo using a targeted heptapeptide and confocal microendoscopy. Nat Med 2008; 14: 454–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×