Department of Experimental Molecular Imaging, Medical Faculty and Helmholtz Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Pauwelsstraße 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany.
Thromb Haemost. 2013 Mar;109(3):375-90. doi: 10.1160/TH12-10-0721. Epub 2013 Feb 14.
Noninvasive imaging plays an emerging role in preclinical and clinical cancer research and has high potential to improve clinical translation of new drugs. This article summarises and discusses tools and methods to image tumour angiogenesis and monitor anti-angiogenic therapy effects. In this context, micro-computed tomography (µCT) is recommended to visualise and quantify the micro-architecture of functional tumour vessels. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (US) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are favourable tools to assess functional vascular parameters, such as perfusion and relative blood volume. These functional parameters have been shown to indicate anti-angiogenic therapy response at an early stage, before changes in tumour size appear. For tumour characterisation, the imaging of the molecular characteristics of tumour blood vessels, such as receptor expression, might have an even higher diagnostic potential and has been shown to be highly suitable for therapy monitoring as well. In this context, US using targeted microbubbles is currently evaluated in clinical trials as an important tool for the molecular characterisation of the angiogenic endothelium. Other modalities, being preferably used for molecular imaging of vessels and their surrounding stroma, are photoacoustic imaging (PAI), near-infrared fluorescence optical imaging (OI), MRI, positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). The latter two are particularly useful if very high sensitivity is needed, and/or if the molecular target is difficult to access. Carefully considering the pros and cons of different imaging modalities in a multimodal imaging setup enables a comprehensive longitudinal assessment of the (micro)morphology, function and molecular regulation of tumour vessels.
非侵入性成像在临床前和临床癌症研究中发挥着新兴作用，具有提高新药临床转化的巨大潜力。本文总结和讨论了用于成像肿瘤血管生成和监测抗血管生成治疗效果的工具和方法。在这种情况下，微计算机断层扫描（µCT）被推荐用于可视化和量化功能性肿瘤血管的微观结构。对比增强超声（US）和磁共振成像（MRI）是评估功能血管参数（如灌注和相对血容量）的有利工具。这些功能参数已被证明可以在肿瘤大小发生变化之前的早期阶段指示抗血管生成治疗的反应。为了进行肿瘤特征分析，成像肿瘤血管的分子特征，如受体表达，可能具有更高的诊断潜力，并且已被证明非常适合治疗监测。在这种情况下，使用靶向微泡的 US 目前正在临床试验中评估，作为血管生成内皮分子特征的重要工具。其他模态，优选用于血管及其周围基质的分子成像，是光声成像（PAI）、近红外荧光光学成像（OI）、MRI、正电子发射断层扫描（PET）和单光子发射计算机断层扫描（SPECT）。如果需要非常高的灵敏度，并且/或者如果分子靶标难以接近，那么后两种模态尤其有用。在多模态成像设置中仔细考虑不同成像模式的优缺点，可以全面纵向评估肿瘤血管的（微观）形态、功能和分子调控。
