Evaluation of antineoplastic therapies would be enhanced by sensitive methods that noninvasively asses both tumor location and neoplastic growth kinetics in living animals. Since light is transmitted through mammalian tissues, it was possible to externally monitor growth and regression of luciferase labeled murine tumor cells engrafted into immunodeficient mice. External quantification of tumor burden revealed the biological impact of the chemotherapeutic agent cyclophosphamide on the kinetics of tumor growth in living animals. Therapeutic activity was apparent but this drug did not eliminate the NIH 3T3 cell signal over the 28 d time course. This novel, noninvasive system allowed sensitive, real time spatiotemporal analyses of neoplastic cell growth and may facilitate rapid optimization of effective therapeutic treatment regimes.

Date Published: 2 July 1999
PDF: 4 pages
Proc. SPIE 3600, Biomedical Imaging: Reporters, Dyes, and Instrumentation, (2 July 1999); doi: 10.1117/12.351023

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 3600:
Biomedical Imaging: Reporters, Dyes, and Instrumentation
Eva Marie Sevick-Muraca; Darryl J. Bornhop; Christopher H. Contag; Eva Marie Sevick-Muraca, Editor(s)