In Vivo Visualization of Stromal Macrophages via label-free FLIM-based metabolite imaging.

ABSTRACT: Macrophage infiltration and recruitment in breast tumors has been correlated with poor prognosis in breast cancer patients and has been linked to tumor cell dissemination. Much of our understanding comes from animal models in which macrophages are labeled by expression of an extrinsic fluorophore. However, conventional extrinsic fluorescence labeling approaches are not readily applied to human tissue and clinical use. We report a novel strategy that exploits endogenous fluorescence from the metabolic co-factors NADH and FAD with quantitation from Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy (FLIM) as a means to non-invasively identify tumor-associated macrophages in the intact mammary tumor microenvironment. Macrophages were FAD(HI) and demonstrated a glycolytic-like NADH-FLIM signature that w

SUBMITTER: Szulczewski JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4879594 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature