HER-2/neu targeted delivery of a nanoprobe enables dual photoacoustic and fluorescence tomography of ovarian cancer.

Development of sensitive and specific imaging approaches for the detection of ovarian cancer holds great promise for improving survival of ovarian cancer patients. Here we describe a dual-modality photoacoustic and fluorescence molecular tomography (PAT/FMT) approach in combination with a targeted imaging probe for three-dimensional imaging of ovarian tumors in mice. We found that the selective accumulation of the HER-2/neu targeted magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) led to about 5-fold contrast enhancements in the tumor for PAT, while near-infrared (NIR) dye labeled nanoparticles emitted strong optical signals for FMT. Both PAT and FMT were demonstrated to be able to detect ovarian tumors located deep in the peritoneal cavity in mice. The targeted nanoprobes allowed mapping tumors in high resolution via PAT, and high sensitivity and specificity via FMT. This study demonstrated the potential of the application of HER-2/neu-targeted PAT/FMT approach for non-invasive or intraoperative imaging of ovarian cancer. FROM THE CLINICAL EDITOR: This paper details the development of a dual-modality photoacoustic and fluorescence molecular tomography approach in combination with a targeted imaging probe for three-dimensional imaging of ovarian tumors in a mouse model, demonstrating the application of the HER-2/neu-targeted approach for non-invasive or intraoperative imaging of ovarian cancer.