| Popis: |
Cytokines are important messengers in cell-to-cell communications that regulate vital cellular and physiological processes, and play an important role in defining the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment response in various diseases. Although current ex vivo biochemical assays for cytokine quantitation are useful, their capabilities for studying dynamic cytokine expression in living systems are limited. Optical molecular imaging technology can help probe the spatiotemporal dynamics of cytokine expression in vivo and in real-time. We developed an in vivo optical molecular imaging strategy for monitoring one of these cytokines, the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). With the imaging strategy, changes in tumoral VEGF concentration following cobalt chloride treatment and photodynamic therapy (PDT) were monitored. This was the first systematic study to test the feasibility of VEGF-targeted molecular imaging, and can potentially set the basis for online monitoring of cytokines that will help develop effective tools for diagnosis, prognosis, treatment planning and monitoring. |
