Abstract
Simple SummaryOne novel approach in cancer therapy is the use of genetically modified immune cells that are more specifically directed to a tumor than common chemotherapy. This creates the need for medical imaging methods that can be used to track these immune cells during therapy. Our study provides computer simulations of potential applications of X-ray fluorescence imaging for this purpose. We showed that if immune cells were labeled with gold nanoparticles as an imaging marker, the amounts of immune cells that would be expected to be found in a tumor or inflammation site could be detected with our setup. Our feasibility study thus shows results that are promising estimates on what can be achieved.The growing field of cellular therapies in regenerative medicine and oncology calls for more refined diagnostic tools that are able to investigate and monitor the function and success of said therapies. X-ray Fluorescence Imaging (XFI) can be applied for molecular imaging with nanoparticles, such as gold nanoparticles (GNPs), which can be used in immune cell tracking. We present a Monte Carlo simulation study on the sensitivity of detection and associated radiation dose estimations in an idealized setup of XFI in human-sized objects. Our findings demonstrate the practicability of XFI in human-sized objects, as immune cell tracking with a minimum detection limit of 4.4 × 105 cells or 0.86 μg gold in a cubic volume of 1.78 mm3 can be achieved. Therefore, our results show that the current technological developments form a good basis for high sensitivity XFI.
Highlights
A considerably young area of medical imaging is so called molecular imaging, which gives insights into biological and pathological processes that are of great use for research and clinical applications alike
X-ray Fluorescence Imaging (XFI) can be applied for molecular imaging with nanoparticles, such as gold nanoparticles (GNPs), which can be used in immune cell tracking
Our findings demonstrate the practicability of XFI in human-sized objects, as immune cell tracking with a minimum detection limit of 4.4 × 105 cells or 0.86 μg gold in a cubic volume of 1.78 mm3 can be achieved
Summary
A considerably young area of medical imaging is so called molecular imaging, which gives insights into biological and pathological processes that are of great use for research and clinical applications alike. Molecular imaging is the process of imaging and studying molecular and cellular processes in entire organisms [1] Can it help to deepen our understanding of physiological interactions between cells and their functions, but due to advances in the fields of cell-based therapies and regenerative medicine, the demand for imaging methods capable of visualizing such processes greatly increased in recent years [2,3,4,5]. Current imaging methods capable of detecting sufficiently low concentrations of markers to aid in the research of for example cell-based therapies on the molecular level in vivo include nuclear imaging with Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and optical imaging [1,6,7]. The goal of this work is to further determine the usefulness of a novel imaging method, namely X-ray Fluorescence Imaging (XFI)
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