Real-time in vivo imaging of metastatic bone tumors with a targeted near-infrared fluorophore

// Wonbong Lim 1, 2, 3, * , HongMoon Sohn 1, 2, * , Youngjong Ko 1, 2 , Mineon Park 1, 2 , Bora Kim 1, 2 , Danbi Jo 4 , Jin Seok Jung 4 , Dae Hyeok Yang 5 , Jangho Kim 6 , Ok Joon Kim 7 , Donghwi Kim 1, 2 , Young Lae Moon 1, 2 , Jung-Joon Min 8 and Hoon Hyun 4 1 Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Chosun University Hospital, Gwangju 61453, South Korea 2 Laboratory of Orthopedic Research, Chosun University Hospital, Gwangju 61453, South Korea 3 Department of Premedical Program, School of Medicine, Chosun University, Gwangju 61452, South Korea 4 Department of Biomedical Sciences, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju 61469, South Korea 5 Institute of Cell and Tissue Engineering, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, South Korea 6 Department of Rural and Biosystems Engineering, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 61186, South Korea 7 Department of Oral Pathology, School of Dentistry, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 61186, South Korea 8 Department of Nuclear Medicine, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju 61469, South Korea * Authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Hoon Hyun, email: hhyun@jnu.ac.kr Keywords: metastatic bone tumor, real-time in vivo imaging, near-infrared fluorescence, targeted fluorophore Received: July 07, 2017      Accepted: August 04, 2017      Published: August 11, 2017 ABSTRACT Tumors of the prostate or breast are particularly likely to metastasize to the bone, and early diagnosis of metastatic bone tumors is important for designing an effective treatment strategy. Imaging modalities for the detection of bone metastasis are limited, and radiation-based techniques are commonly used. Here, we investigated the efficacy of selective near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence detection of metastatic bone tumors and its role in the detection of bone metastasis in prostate and breast cancer cell lines and in a xenograft mouse model. A targeted NIR fluorophore was used to monitor metastatic bone tumors using a NIR fluorescence imaging system in real time, enabling the diagnosis of bone metastasis in vivo by providing the location of the metastatic bone tumor. The NIR fluorescence imaging technique using targeted NIR contrast agents is a potential tool for the early diagnosis of bone tumors.