TY - JOUR

T1 - Avenues to molecular imaging of dying cells

T2 - Focus on cancer

AU - Rybczynska, Anna

AU - Boersma, Hendrikus

AU - de Jong, Steven

AU - Gietema, Jourik A.

AU - Noordzij, Walter

AU - Dierckx, Rudi

AU - Elsinga, Philip H.

AU - van Waarde, Aren

PY - 2018/11

Y1 - 2018/11

N2 - Successful treatment of cancer patients requires balancing of the dose, timing, and type of therapeutic regimen. Detection of increased cell death may serve as a predictor of the eventual therapeutic success. Imaging of cell death may thus lead to early identification of treatment responders and nonresponders, and to patient-tailored therapy. Cell death in organs and tissues of the human body can be visualized, using positron emission tomography or single-photon emission computed tomography, although unsolved problems remain concerning target selection, tracer pharmacokinetics, target-to-nontarget ratio, and spatial and temporal resolution of the scans. Phosphatidylserine exposure by dying cells has been the most extensively studied imaging target. However, visualization of this process with radiolabeled Annexin A5 has not become routine in the clinical setting. Classification of death modes is no longer based only on cell morphology but also on biochemistry, and apoptosis is no longer found to be the preponderant mechanism of cell death after antitumor therapy, as was earlier believed. These conceptual changes have affected radiochemical efforts. Novel probes targeting changes in membrane permeability, cytoplasmic pH, mitochondrial membrane potential, or caspase activation have recently been explored. In this review, we discuss molecular changes in tumors which can be targeted to visualize cell death and we propose promising biomarkers for future exploration.

AB - Successful treatment of cancer patients requires balancing of the dose, timing, and type of therapeutic regimen. Detection of increased cell death may serve as a predictor of the eventual therapeutic success. Imaging of cell death may thus lead to early identification of treatment responders and nonresponders, and to patient-tailored therapy. Cell death in organs and tissues of the human body can be visualized, using positron emission tomography or single-photon emission computed tomography, although unsolved problems remain concerning target selection, tracer pharmacokinetics, target-to-nontarget ratio, and spatial and temporal resolution of the scans. Phosphatidylserine exposure by dying cells has been the most extensively studied imaging target. However, visualization of this process with radiolabeled Annexin A5 has not become routine in the clinical setting. Classification of death modes is no longer based only on cell morphology but also on biochemistry, and apoptosis is no longer found to be the preponderant mechanism of cell death after antitumor therapy, as was earlier believed. These conceptual changes have affected radiochemical efforts. Novel probes targeting changes in membrane permeability, cytoplasmic pH, mitochondrial membrane potential, or caspase activation have recently been explored. In this review, we discuss molecular changes in tumors which can be targeted to visualize cell death and we propose promising biomarkers for future exploration.

KW - apoptosis

KW - early treatment response

KW - necrosis

KW - positron emission tomography (PET)

KW - single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)

KW - POSITRON-EMISSION-TOMOGRAPHY

KW - IN-VIVO EVALUATION

KW - ACUTE MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION

KW - INDUCED TUMOR APOPTOSIS

KW - PRELIMINARY BIOLOGICAL EVALUATION

KW - BINDS ANIONIC PHOSPHOLIPIDS

KW - PROTEIN-KINASE-C

KW - HIS-ANNEXIN A5

KW - F-18-FLUOROBENZYL TRIPHENYL PHOSPHONIUM

KW - TC-99M-LABELED C2A DOMAIN

U2 - 10.1002/med.21495

DO - 10.1002/med.21495

M3 - Review article

VL - 38

SP - 1713

EP - 1768

JO - Medicinal research reviews

JF - Medicinal research reviews

SN - 0198-6325

IS - 6

ER -