Minimally Invaded Sentinel Lymph Node Model for the Development of Intraoperative Infrared Fluorescence Imaging

Abstract

In this study we implemented an axillary SLN invasion model to develop highly sensitive imaging strategies enabling detection of a very small amount of tumor cells. A highly diffusible molecular probe targeting αvβ3 and αvβ5 integrins was investigated either via IV or locoregional injections. We additionally documented the potential interferences of this Near Infrared Fluorescence Probe with Blue Patente V and ICG dyes routinely used to facilitate lymph node detection during surgery. The human mammary adenocarcinoma MDA-MB-231-luc model was injected into the forepaw of nude female rats to obtain a controlled invasion of the axillary LN. Thanks to its high sensitivity, BLI was selected to achieve in vivo quantitation of tumor cells in SLNs and determine eligible animals for the study. NIRF of integrins was performed at 680 nm both in vivo and ex vivo using spectral unmixing to suppress auto-fluorescence signal and preserve sensitivity...