TY - JOUR
T1 - Clinically translatable quantitative molecular photoacoustic imaging with liposome-encapsulated ICG J-aggregates
AU - Wood, Cayla A.
AU - Han, Sangheon
AU - Kim, Chang Soo
AU - Wen, Yunfei
AU - Sampaio, Diego R.T.
AU - Harris, Justin T.
AU - Homan, Kimberly A.
AU - Swain, Jody L.
AU - Emelianov, Stanislav Y.
AU - Sood, Anil K.
AU - Cook, Jason R.
AU - Sokolov, Konstantin V.
AU - Bouchard, Richard R.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).
PY - 2021/12/1
Y1 - 2021/12/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41467-021-25452-3
DO - 10.1038/s41467-021-25452-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 34518530
AN - SCOPUS:85114878183
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 12
JO - Nature communications
JF - Nature communications
IS - 1
M1 - 5410
ER -