Niedre Mark
Department of Bioengineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States.
Front Photon. 2022;3. doi: 10.3389/fphot.2022.910035. Epub 2022 May 8.
Our team recently developed "Diffuse in vivo Flow Cytometry" (DiFC) for detection and enumeration rare circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in mice with highly-scattered fluorescent light. We have used DiFC to study dissemination of CTCs in a number of mouse models of metastasis with fluorescent protein expressing cells. Because DiFC uses diffuse light and interrogates large blood vessels in relatively deep tissue, in principle it could be translated to larger limbs, species, and even humans clinically. In this perspective, we discuss the technical challenges of human translation of DiFC in the context of the current state of the technology, as well as potential strategies for labeling of CTCs with targeted fluorescent molecular probes. We also discuss potential advantages and disadvantages of DiFC as a clinical tool. In principle, DiFC could represent a powerful complementary technique (to liquid biopsy blood draws) for accurate and sensitive measurement of changes in CTC numbers over time.
我们的团队最近开发了“体内扩散流式细胞术”（DiFC），用于在小鼠体内检测和计数散在荧光很强的罕见循环肿瘤细胞（CTC）。我们已使用DiFC在多种表达荧光蛋白细胞的转移小鼠模型中研究CTC的扩散情况。由于DiFC使用漫射光并检测相对深部组织中的大血管，原则上它可以转化应用于更大的肢体、物种，甚至临床上的人类。从这个角度出发，我们结合当前技术现状讨论DiFC转化应用于人类的技术挑战，以及用靶向荧光分子探针标记CTC的潜在策略。我们还讨论了DiFC作为临床工具的潜在优缺点。原则上，DiFC可能是一种强大的补充技术（相对于液体活检采血），用于准确、灵敏地测量CTC数量随时间的变化。
