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©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Noninvasive in vivo cell tracking using molecular imaging: A useful tool for developing mesenchymal stem cell-based cancer treatment
Ramya Lakshmi Rajendran, Manasi Pandurang Jogalekar, Prakash Gangadaran, Byeong-Cheol Ahn
Ramya Lakshmi Rajendran, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41944, South Korea
Manasi Pandurang Jogalekar, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, United States
Prakash Gangadaran, Department of Nuclear Medicine, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41944, South Korea
Prakash Gangadaran, Byeong-Cheol Ahn, BK21 Plus KNU Biomedical Convergence Program, Department of Biomedical Science, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41944, South Korea
Byeong-Cheol Ahn, Department of Nuclear Medicine, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Kyungpook National University Hospital, Daegu 41944, South Korea
Author contributions: Rajendran RL and Jogalekar MP contributed equally to this work; Rajendran RL, Jogalekar MP, Gangadaran P and Ahn BC contributed to the conception, writing, and discussion of this review manuscript; Rajendran RL and Jogalekar MP wrote the initial draft of the manuscript; Gangadaran P and Ahn BC are co-corresponding authors; all authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Supported by Basic Science Research Program via the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Republic of South Korea, No. NRF-2019R1I1A1A01061296 and No. NRF-2019R1I1A3A01063308.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that the research was performed in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See:
http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Corresponding author: Byeong-Cheol Ahn, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Nuclear Medicine, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Kyungpook National University Hospital, 680 gukchaebosang-ro, Jung-gu, Daegu 41944, South Korea. abc2000@knu.ac.kr
Received: June 29, 2020
Peer-review started: June 29, 2020
First decision: September 24, 2020
Revised: October 5, 2020
Accepted: October 21, 2020
Article in press: October 21, 2020
Published online: December 26, 2020
Mounting evidence has emphasized the potential of cell therapies in treating various diseases by restoring damaged tissues or replacing defective cells in the body. Cell therapies have become a strong therapeutic modality by applying noninvasive in vivo molecular imaging for examining complex cellular processes, understanding pathophysiological mechanisms of diseases, and evaluating the kinetics/dynamics of cell therapies. In particular, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have shown promise in recent years as drug carriers for cancer treatment. They can also be labeled with different probes and tracked in vivo to assess the in vivo effect of administered cells, and to optimize therapy. The exact role of MSCs in oncologic diseases is not clear as MSCs have been shown to be involved in tumor progression and inhibition, and the exact interactions between MSCs and specific cancer microenvironments are not clear. In this review, a multitude of labeling approaches, imaging modalities, and the merits/demerits of each strategy are outlined. In addition, specific examples of the use of MSCs and in vivo imaging in cancer therapy are provided. Finally, present limitations and future outlooks in terms of the translation of different imaging approaches in clinics are discussed.
Core Tip: There is substantial evidence of the potential of cell therapies in treating various diseases including cancers. Molecular imaging has been actively used for decades to assess cellular processes, evaluate the properties of certain drugs, screen compound libraries, and visualize the fate of cells. This review aimed to confirm whether noninvasive in vivo cell tracking in combination with molecular imaging could be used as a tool for the development of mesenchymal stem cell-based cancer treatment. To that end, the following aspects are outlined in the text: labeling approaches, imaging modalities, advantages and disadvantages of each strategy, and scope and limitations of the various imaging approaches. In conclusion, together with long-term monitoring, a lot can be learned with regard to the hidden potential of MSCs as well as their variable fate in humans.
