A non-intrusive evaluation method for tumor-targeting characteristics of nanomedicines based on in vivo near-infrared fluorescence imaging.

We developed a novel evaluation method for tumor-targeting characteristics of nanomedicines, average tumor-targeting index (average TTI) and "area under the tumor-targeting index-time curve" (AUTC) were established as the indicators for tumor targeting of nanomedicines based on NIR fluorescence imaging, which helps real-time monitoring of targeting ability and tumor changes in vivo without culling animals.