MOE Key Laboratory of Laser Life Science & Institute of Laser Life Science, College of Biophotonics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China.
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Laser Life Science, College of Biophotonics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China.
Theranostics. 2020 Jul 14;10(20):9172-9185. doi: 10.7150/thno.45994. eCollection 2020.
To investigate the feasibility of microwave-induced thermoacoustic imaging (MTAI) in detecting small pancreatic tumors (< 10 mm in diameter) and to complement the limitation of current clinical imaging methods. A home-made MTAI system composed of a portable antenna and pulsed microwave generator was developed. The thermoacoustic nanoparticles were composed of the galectin-1 antibody for targeting pancreatic tumors and FeO nanoparticles as microwave absorbers (anti-Gal1-FeO nanoparticles). The microwave absorption properties of the nanoparticles were measured with a vector network analyzer and the resolving power of MTAI was investigated by imaging excised pancreatic tumors of different sizes (diameters of 1.0 mm, 3.1 mm, 5.0 mm, 7.2 mm). To simulate actual imaging scenarios, an heterozygosity model was constructed by covering the pancreatic tumors (~ 3 mm in diameter) in BALB/c nude mice with biologic tissue (~ 5 cm in depth). MTAI images of the heterozygosity model were acquired with/without the injection of the anti-Gal1-FeO nanoparticles and the thermoacoustic contrast from pancreatic tumors was evaluated with Student's paired t test. The data were analyzed with analysis of variance and nonparametric statistics. : Following intravenous infusion, anti-Gal1-FeO nanoparticles efficiently accumulated in the tumor. The MTAI contrast enhancement in pancreatic tumors with anti-Gal1-FeO nanoparticles was verified and . The pancreatic tumors were visible in nude mice examined with MTAI with a mean contrast enhancement ratio of 2.3 ± 0.15 (standard error of the mean) ( =. 001) at 6 h post-injection of the nanoparticles. MTAI identified tiny pancreatic tumors in deep tissues with high fidelity. : MTAI offers deep imaging depth and high contrast when used with anti-Gal1-FeO nanoparticles. It can identify pancreatic tumors smaller than 5 mm, which is beyond the identification limit size (~10 mm) of other nondestructive clinical imaging methods. Thus, MTAI has great potential as an alternative imaging modality for early pancreatic cancer detection.
为了探索微波诱导热声成像（MTAI）检测小胰腺肿瘤（直径<10mm）的可行性，并弥补当前临床成像方法的局限性。我们开发了一种由便携式天线和脉冲微波发生器组成的自制 MTAI 系统。热声纳米颗粒由针对胰腺肿瘤的半乳糖凝集素-1 抗体和 FeO 纳米颗粒作为微波吸收剂（抗 Gal1-FeO 纳米颗粒）组成。使用矢量网络分析仪测量了纳米颗粒的微波吸收特性，并通过成像不同大小的离体胰腺肿瘤（直径为 1.0mm、3.1mm、5.0mm、7.2mm）研究了 MTAI 的分辨率。为了模拟实际成像场景，我们通过用生物组织（深度约 5cm）覆盖 BALB/c 裸鼠中的胰腺肿瘤（直径约 3mm）构建了杂合模型。在有无注射抗 Gal1-FeO 纳米颗粒的情况下，获得了杂合模型的 MTAI 图像，并通过学生配对 t 检验评估了来自胰腺肿瘤的热声对比度。使用方差分析和非参数统计对数据进行了分析。结果：静脉内输注后，抗 Gal1-FeO 纳米颗粒有效地在肿瘤中积聚。通过注射抗 Gal1-FeO 纳米颗粒验证了 MTAI 中胰腺肿瘤的对比度增强，并通过 Student 的配对 t 检验对其进行了分析，结果表明，纳米颗粒注射后 6h，胰腺肿瘤的平均对比增强比为 2.3±0.15（标准误差）（=0.001）。MTAI 以高保真度在深部组织中识别出微小的胰腺肿瘤。结论：当与抗 Gal1-FeO 纳米颗粒一起使用时，MTAI 提供了深的成像深度和高的对比度。它可以识别小于 5mm 的胰腺肿瘤，这超出了其他无损临床成像方法的识别极限大小（约 10mm）。因此，MTAI 作为早期胰腺癌检测的替代成像方式具有很大的潜力。
