Molecular Imaging

Application of dual-modality optical and PET/CT activity-based probe in experimental carotid inflammation model. Coronal noninvasive PET/CT scans of (A) healthy and (B) diseased mice with and without ligated carotid arteries respectively. Inset images show optical ex vivo florescence imagining of (A) healthy and (B) diseased carotid arteries.  PET/CT and optical images courtesy of Xiaowei Ma, Toshinobu Saito and Nimali Withana.

Panel A shows a flank A549 lung tumor in a nude mouse with combined 18F-FDG PET uptake (signal intensity in color) and T2-weighted anatomical MRI (grayscale). Panel B shows a similar tumor image with a relative permeability map for the tumor (color code) overlaid on a corresponding anatomical MRI reference. Regions identified as necrotic were not included in the DCE MRI analysis. Image courtesy of the University of Arizona Department of Medical Imaging.

After molecularly targeted therapy with an AKT inhibitor, the receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) HER3 increases in this particular tumor, but the RTK EGFR does not. In this example, starting HER3 inhibitor therapy in addition to AKT inhibitor therapy is likely to be beneficial, but the addition of EGFR inhibitor therapy is not likely to be beneficial for treating this tumor. Image courtesy of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.