Photo of Dr. Sanjiv Sam Gambhir by Steve Fisch.
May 12, 2022 - American Chemical Society Central Science
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Noninvasive molecular imaging for cancer immunotherapies is a promising strategy for monitoring whole-body immune responses both during disease progression and upon treatment induction, to improve patient outcomes and survival rates.
New research from co-lead authors Dr. Fadi El Rami and Dr. Jianghang Xie, Stanford Bio-X affiliated faculty members Jianghong Rao and Robert Negrin, and Stanford Bio-X Travel Award recipient Surya Murty represents work from the laboratory of the late Dr. Sam Gambhir. The team designed a novel granzyme B (gzmB) activated self-assembly small molecule for the assessment of immunotherapy efficacy, and monitored its activity together with the immune cell trafficking and tumor infiltration.
In this study, the team first developed a sensitive fluorescent imaging probe for noninvasive surveillance of gzmB function. Employing longitudinal bioluminescence imaging, they simultaneously determined the immune cell trafficking and tumor infiltration in response to immunotherapies. This combined imaging of immunological events revealed distinct whole-body patterns of immune cell migration and associated cytotoxicity, allowing earlier and reliable prediction of immunotherapeutic outcomes.
