In-vivo monitoring of circulating apoptotic cells
AssigneeMassachusetts General Hospital
InventorsCharles Lin, Xunbin Wei, Dorothy Sipkins
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention provides methods and systems for performing in vivo flow cytometry. In one embodiments, selected circulating cells of interest of a subject are labeled with fluorescent probe molecules. The labeled cells are irradiated in-vivo so as to excite the fluorescent probes, and the radiation emitted by the excited probes is detected, preferably confocally. The detected radiation is then analyzed to derive desired information, such as relative cell count, of the cells of interest. In some embodiments, the circulating cells comprise apoptotic cells whose detection can allow, e.g., non-invasive monitoring of the efficacy of a cancer treatment, such as an anti-tumor or an anti-angiogenic therapy.
Claims16
A method for non-invasive detection of non-viable cells in a subject, comprising
- labeling a plurality of non-viable cells circulating in the subject with cell markers, each cell marker having at least one fluorescent component,
- illuminating the labeled cells in-vivo with radiation having one or more wavelength components suitable for exciting said fluorescent component,
- detecting fluorescence radiation emitted by the labeled cells in response to said excitation, and
- analyzing said detected fluorescence radiation so as to derive information regarding said circulating non-viable cells.
A method of non-invasive monitoring of efficacy of a cancer treatment administered to a subject, comprising
- administering to the subject a plurality of fluorescent cell markers suitable for labeling a plurality of apoptotic cancer cells circulating in the subject,
- illuminating at least a portion of the subject's circulating blood with radiation capable of exciting said fluorescent cell markers,
- confocally detecting fluorescence radiation emitted by the excited cell markers, and
- analyzing said detected fluorescence to derive a relative count of said apoptotic cells.
A method for real-time quantification of non-viable circulating cells in a live subject, comprising:
- administering to the subject a plurality of fluorescent probe molecules capable of coupling to a plurality of non-viable cells,
- illuminating at least a portion of a blood vessel of the subject with radiation capable of exciting said fluorescent probe molecules flowing through said vessel portion,
- confocally detecting fluorescence radiation originating from one or more of said excited probe molecules flowing through said vessel portion, and
- analyzing said detected fluorescence to identify fluorescent signals emitted by probe molecules coupled to said non-viable circulating cells.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.