Clinically translatable quantitative molecular photoacoustic imaging with liposome-encapsulated ICG J-aggregates

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Cayla A Wood, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; Sangheon Han, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; Chang Soo Kim, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; Yunfei Wen, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; Diego RT Sampaio, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; Justin T Harris, NanoHybrids Inc; Kimberly A Homan, NanoHybrids Inc; Jody L Swain, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; Stanislav Emelianov, Emory University; Anil K Sood, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth; Jason R Cook, NanoHybrids Inc; Konstantin Sokolov, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; Richard R Bouchard, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
• Language: English
• Date: 2021-09-13
• Publisher: NATURE PORTFOLIO
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © The Author(s) 2021
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25452-3
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 1
• Start Page: 5410
• End Page: 5410
• Grant/Funding Information: This work was supported by the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas [RP170314 and RP190131], the National Institutes of Health [R01 EB028762; P30 CA016672; P50 CA217685; and S10 OD019946], the American Cancer Society, the Frank McGraw Memorial Chair in Cancer Research, and the Sao Paulo Research Foundation [2016/22720-3].
• Keywords: VISUALIZATION; Science & Technology - Other Topics; Multidisciplinary Sciences; NANOPARTICLES; CONTRAST AGENTS; TISSUE; DELIVERY; MULTISPECTRAL OPTOACOUSTIC TOMOGRAPHY; INDOCYANINE GREEN; CANCER; Science & Technology; STABILITY; FOLATE
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Oncology; Engineering, Biomedical

Abstract

Photoacoustic (PA) imaging is a functional and molecular imaging technique capable of high sensitivity and spatiotemporal resolution at depth. Widespread use of PA imaging, however, is limited by currently available contrast agents, which either lack PA-signal-generation ability for deep imaging or their absorbance spectra overlap with hemoglobin, reducing sensitivity. Here we report on a PA contrast agent based on targeted liposomes loaded with J-aggregated indocyanine green (ICG) dye (i.e., PAtrace) that we synthesized, bioconjugated, and characterized to addresses these limitations. We then validated PAtrace in phantom, in vitro, and in vivo PA imaging environments for both spectral unmixing accuracy and targeting efficacy in a folate receptor alpha-positive ovarian cancer model. These study results show that PAtrace concurrently provides significantly improved contrast-agent quantification/sensitivity and SO2 estimation accuracy compared to monomeric ICG. PAtrace’s performance attributes and composition of FDA-approved components make it a promising agent for future clinical molecular PA imaging.