title: Hypoxia-specific ultrasensitive detection of tumours and cancer cells in vivo.
abstract: Highly sensitive and specific non-invasive molecular imaging methods are particularly desirable for the early detection of cancers. Here we report a near-infrared optical imaging probe highly specific to the hypoxic tumour microenvironment to detect tumour and cancer cells with the sensitivity to a few thousands cancer cells. This oxygen-sensitive, near-infrared emitting and water-soluble phosphorescent macromolecular probe can not only report the hypoxic tumour environment of various cancer models, including metastatic tumours in vivo, but can also detect a small amount of cancer cells before the formation of the tumour based on the increased oxygen consumption during cancer cell proliferation. Thus, the reported hypoxia-sensitive probe may offer an imaging tool for characterizing the tumour microenvironment in vivo, detecting cancer cells at a very early stage of tumour development and lymph node metastasis.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of High Performance Polymer Materials and Technology (Nanjing University), Ministry of Education, and Department of Polymer Science &Engineering, College of Chemistry &Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xianchuang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of High Performance Polymer Materials and Technology (Nanjing University), Ministry of Education, and Department of Polymer Science &Engineering, College of Chemistry &Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30329, USA.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of High Performance Polymer Materials and Technology (Nanjing University), Ministry of Education, and Department of Polymer Science &Engineering, College of Chemistry &Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Baorui
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of High Performance Polymer Materials and Technology (Nanjing University), Ministry of Education, and Department of Polymer Science &Engineering, College of Chemistry &Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiqun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D015687:Cell Hypoxia / Q000502:physiology*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002850:Chromatography, Gel; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D006801:Humans; D008163:Luminescent Measurements / Q000379:methods; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D051379:Mice; D057054:Molecular Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000502:physiology; D059016:Tumor Microenvironment / Q000502:physiology*