Zhang Lu, Ding Yunhe, Chen Xinjian, Xiang Dehui, Shi Fei, Chen Yanyun, Yan Shenshen, Zhang Xinyuan, Tian Jie, Sivaprasad Sobha, Du Yang, Yang Zhi, Tian Bei
School of Biomedical Engineering, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, China.
Beijing Key Laboratory of Fundamental Research on Biomechanics in Clinical Application, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, China.
Biomed Opt Express. 2021 Oct 29;12(11):7185-7198. doi: 10.1364/BOE.439446. eCollection 2021 Nov 1.
Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) therapy is effective for reducing the severity level of diabetic retinopathy (DR). However, it is difficult to determine the spatial and temporal expression of VEGF in the DR retina at an early stage. Here, we report a quantitatively fluorescence molecular imaging and image analysis method by creating a VEGF targeted fluorescence imaging probe, which can potentially detect and predict anti-VEGF treatment response. Moreover, the ex vivo multiscale fluorescence imaging demonstrated the spatial correlation between VEGF relative expression and vascular abnormalities in two and three dimensions. It revealed that VEGF was mainly abnormally expressed at the bifurcation of the microvessels, which advances the knowledge of the DR progression by molecular fluorescence imaging. Our study has the potential to achieve early detection of DR disease, provide more insight into understanding anti-VEGF treatment, and may help stratify patients based on the molecular imaging of retinal VEGF.
抗血管内皮生长因子（anti-VEGF）疗法在降低糖尿病视网膜病变（DR）的严重程度方面是有效的。然而，在疾病早期很难确定DR视网膜中VEGF的时空表达情况。在此，我们报告了一种通过创建VEGF靶向荧光成像探针进行定量荧光分子成像及图像分析的方法，该方法有可能检测并预测抗VEGF治疗反应。此外，离体多尺度荧光成像在二维和三维上展示了VEGF相对表达与血管异常之间的空间相关性。结果表明，VEGF主要在微血管分支处异常表达，这通过分子荧光成像推进了对DR进展的认识。我们的研究有潜力实现DR疾病的早期检测，为理解抗VEGF治疗提供更多见解，并可能有助于基于视网膜VEGF的分子成像对患者进行分层。
