In the coming month, at the Optical Society’s (OSA) Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida,
researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical
School will be showing how the harnessing of a couple imaging techniques
can offer a fantastic new view inside the structure and workings of
tumors.
One technique, called multiphoton laser-scanning microscopy (MPLSM), a
fluorescence imaging modality, is now actually available for
laboratories to purchase. The other technique is called optical
frequency domain imaging (OFDI), which has been experimented with in
labs but not yet commercially available, reconstructs the imaged object
from the scattered light it gives off.
MPLSM overcomes many of the limitations from which
conventional microscopy and confocal microscopy suffer, and OFDI
provides robust large volume imaging data. Scientists added that while the new combined approach would be too expensive
to be used for routine diagnostic purposes, it promises to help
researchers better understand the intricate workings of human cancer and
aid in drug discovery to treat cancer.
The new imaging tool reveals strikingly different networks of blood
vessels
surrounding different types of tumors in a mouse model. Left:
Breast cancer in the breast. Middle:
Metastatic breast cancer in the
brain. Right: Ectopic breast cancer in the skin.
Credit: Nature Medicine
A tumor before (left) and five days after (right) anti-angiogenic
treatment
– novel treatment approach by inhibiting blood vessel growth.
Credit: Nature Medicine
