Cerenkov luminescence imaging on evaluation of early response to chemotherapy of drug-resistant gastric cancer

Abstract Apoptosis imaging enables a timely and specific assessment of treatment response in cancer patients. In this study, we applied a probe for positron emission tomography (PET), which served as an optical biomaterial emitting Cerenkov photons, to in vivo optical imaging of tumor apoptosis, in order to evaluate early response to chemotherapy of drug-resistant gastric cancer. 68 Ga-DOTA-Annexin V was prepared as the apoptosis targeting probe. Wild type human gastric adenocarcinoma cell line SGC7901/WT and drug vincristine-resistant variant SGC7901/VCR were used to establish normal and vincristine-resistant xenografts to simulate treatment decision situation. Vincristine-resistance of SGC7901/VCR and apoptosis-induction ability of vincristine and cisplatin were verified. In vitro and in vivo CLI of apoptosis was performed. Stronger signals of apoptosis of CLI correlated with confirmed higher levels of apoptosis and subsequent changes in tumor sizes. Our study suggests that CLI is a promising technique for in vivo imaging of apoptosis with radiopharmaceutical-labeled biomaterials.