Fast metabolic response to drug intervention through analysis on a miniaturized, highly integrated molecular imaging system.

Abstract

We report on a radiopharmaceutical imaging platform designed to capture the kinetics of cellular responses to drugs. A portable in vitro molecular imaging system comprising a microchip and a β-particle imaging camera permitted routine cell-based radioassays of small numbers of either suspended or adherent cells. We investigated the kinetics of responses of model lymphoma and glioblastoma cancer cell lines to (18)F-FDG uptake after drug exposure. Those responses were correlated with kinetic changes in the cell cycle or with changes in receptor tyrosine kinase signaling. The platform enabled direct radioassays of multiple cell types and yielded results comparable to those from conventional approaches; however, the platform used smaller sample sizes, permitted a higher level of quantitation, and did not require cell lysis. The kinetic analysis enabled by the platform provided a rapid (≈ 1 h) drug screening assay.