Molecular application of spectral photoacoustic imaging in pancreatic cancer pathology

Spectral imaging is an advanced photo-acoustic (PA) mode that can discern optical absorption of contrast agent(s) in the tissue micro-environment. This advancement is made possible by precise control of optical wavelength using a tunable pulsed laser, ranging from 680-970 nm. Differential optical absorption of blood oxygenation states makes spectral imaging of hemoglobin ideal to investigate remodeling of the tumor microenvironment- a molecular change that renders resistance to standard cancer treatment. Approach: Photo-acoustic imaging was performed on the Vevo® LAZR system (VisualSonics) at 5-20 Hz. Deep abdominal imaging was accomplished with a LZ250D probe at a center frequency of 21MHz and an axial resolution of 75 μm. The tumor model was generated in an immune compromised mouse by surgical implantation of primary patient derived tumors, in the pancreas. Results: Spectral imaging for oxygen saturation at 750 nm and 850 nm characterized this tumor with a poorly oxygenated core surrounded by a well oxygenated periphery. Multispectral imaging identified a sub region in the core with a four-fold signal exclusively at 750 and 800 nm. A co-registered 2D image of this region was shown to be echogenic and calcification was suspected. Perfusion imaging with contrast enhanced ultrasound using microbubbles (Vevo MicroMarker® contrast agents, VisualSonics) identified functional vessels towards this sub region. Histology confirmed calcification and vascularization in the tumor core. Taken together, non-invasive characterization of the tumor microenvironment using photo-acoustics rendered spectral imaging a sensitive tool to monitor molecular changes representative of progression of pancreatic cancer that kills within 6 months of diagnosis

Contextual synthetic lethality of cancer cell kill based on the tumor microenvironment

Acute and chronic hypoxia exists within the three-dimensional microenvironment of solid tumors and drives therapy resistance, genetic instability, and metastasis. Replicating cells exposed to either severe acute hypoxia (16 hours with 0.02% O 2 ) followed by reoxygenation or moderate chronic hypoxia (72 hours with 0.2% O 2 ) treatments have decreased homologous recombination (HR) protein expression and function. As HR defects are synthetically lethal with poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1) inhibition, we evaluated the sensitivity of repair-defective hypoxic cells to PARP inhibition. Although PARP inhibition itself did not affect HR expression or function, we observed increased clonogenic killing in HR-deficient hypoxic cells following chemical inhibition of PARP1. This effect was partially reversible by RAD51 overexpression. PARP1 -/- murine embryonic fibroblasts (MEF) showed a proliferative disadvantage under hypoxic gassing when compared with PARP1 +/+ MEFs. PARP-inhibited hypoxic cells accumulated γH2AX and 53BP1 foci as a consequence of altered DNA replication firing during S phase-specific cell killing. In support of this proposed mode of action, PARP inhibitor-treated xenografts displayed increased γH2AX and cleaved caspase-3 expression in RAD51-deficient hypoxic subregions in vivo, which was associated with decreased ex vivo clonogenic survival following experimental radiotherapy. This is the first report of selective cell killing of HR-defective hypoxic cells in vivo as a consequence of microenvironment-mediated "contextual synthetic lethality." As all solid tumors contain aggressive hypoxic cells, this may broaden the clinical utility of PARP and DNA repair inhibition, either alone or in combination with radiotherapy and chemotherapy, even in tumor cells lacking synthetically lethal, genetic mutations. ©2010 AACR