Multimodal imaging of metabolic activities for distinguishing subtypes of breast cancer

• DOI: 10.1364/boe.500252
• Publication Date: 2023-09-28T14:00:07Z
• Authors: Zhi Li; Chloe Nguyen; Hongje Jang; David Hoang; SoeSu Min; Ellen Ackerstaff; Jason A. Koutcher; Lingyan Shi
• Keywords: Triple-negative breast cancer; Flavin adenine dinucleotide; Fluorescence-lifetime imaging microscopy

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a highly aggressive form of cancer. Detecting TNBC early crucial for improving disease prognosis and optimizing treatment. Unfortunately, conventional imaging techniques fall short in providing comprehensive differentiation subtypes due to their limited sensitivity inability capture subcellular details. In this study, we present multimodal platform that integrates heavy water (D 2 O)-probed stimulated Raman scattering (DO-SRS), two-photon fluorescence (TPF), second harmonic generation (SHG) imaging. This allows us directly visualize quantify the metabolic activities at level. By utilizing DO-SRS imaging, were able identify distinct levels de novo lipogenesis, protein synthesis, cytochrome c heterogeneity, lipid unsaturation rates various subtype tissues. Simultaneously, TPF provided spatial distribution mapping NAD[P]H flavin signals tissues, revealing high redox ratio significant turnover rate BL2 (HCC1806) samples. Furthermore, SHG enabled observe diverse orientations collagen fibers with higher anisotropy tissue boundary compared center. Our offers sensitive approach characterizing not only TNBC, but also other cancers.