Feasibility of dual-contrast fluorescence imaging of pathological breast tissues
Author Department
Pathology
Document Type
Article, Peer-reviewed
Publication Date
5-2021
Abstract
The combination of intravital dye, Methylene Blue (MB), with molecular cancer marker, pH low insertion peptide (pHLIP) conjugated with fluorescent Alexa532 (Alexa532-pHLIP), was evaluated for enhancing contrast of pathological breast tissue ex vivo. Fresh, thick breast specimens were stained sequentially with Alexa532-pHLIP and aqueous MB and imaged using dual-channel fluorescence microscopy. MB and Alexa532-pHLIP accumulated in the nuclei and cytoplasm of cancer cells, respectively. MB also stained nuclei of normal cells. Some Alexa532-pHLIP fluorescence emission was detected from connective tissue and benign cell membranes. Overall, Alexa532-pHLIP showed high affinity to cancer, while MB highlighted tissue morphology. The results indicate that MB and Alexa532-pHLIP provide complementary information and show promise for the detection of breast cancer. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Keywords: breast cancer; fluorescence imaging; methylene blue; pHLIP.
Recommended Citation
Mitrou A, Feng X, Khan A, Yaroslavsky AN. Feasibility of dual-contrast fluorescence imaging of pathological breast tissues. J Biophotonics. 2021 May 19:e202100007. doi: 10.1002/jbio.202100007. Epub ahead of print.
PMID
34010507