Near Infrared Tracers For Imaging Apoptosis In Vivo

Now Available: NIR-FLIVO™ in vivo Apoptosis Tracers

ICT's technology utilizes cell membrane-permeable tracers composed of fluorescent dyes conjugated to a pan caspase enzyme inhibitor to detect apoptosis in vivo. In October 2010, ICT was awarded a grant through the Qualified Therapeutic Discovery Program (QTDP): Near Infrared Tracers For Imaging Apoptosis In Vivo. In this project, ICT is the first to develop cell membrane-permeant, near-infrared fluorescent tracers for the non-invasive optical imaging of apoptosis. Having validated the ability of these near-infrared tracers to detect apoptosis in vitro, ICT tested these tracers in mouse models of breast and prostate cancer and glioma. To date, the data demonstrate

a) the basal level of apoptosis present within the tumor
b) enhanced levels of apoptosis following treatment with anti-cancer therapy
c) specificity of uptake of the enzyme inhibitor as opposed to the dye
d) the pharmacodynamics and kinetics of tracer uptake and clearance

ICT introduced these near-infrared apoptosis detection reagents to the marketplace in 2011-Q2 as NIR-FLIVO™. These new near-infrared-labeled FLIVO™ tracers for noninvasive imaging join our current FLIVO™ and FLICA™ product lines that contain fluorescein and sulforhodamine-conjugated apoptosis and caspase detection reagents.

Additional studies with the new tracers will extend to other cancer therapy models and other animal models of disease. Moreover, many applications of human diagnostics and therapeutics may benefit from the use of these novel near-infrared tracers, such as ophthalmology, cardiology, dermatology, and melanoma studies. ICT therefore intends to pursue further development of these reagents into the pre-clinical and clinical phases of approval by the FDA.

Collaborate with ICT

If you need an in vivo detection probe for your research, have a promising molecular detection tracer technology, or would like to collaborate with ICT, please contact Gary L. Johnson or Dr. Brian W. Lee at 1-800-829-3194.