Biological Evaluation of a Fluorescent-Imaging Agent for Medullary Thyroid Cancer in an Orthotopic Model.

Abstract

The primary and definitive treatment of medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) is surgical resection. Recurrent or residual disease is typically a result of incomplete surgical removal. Our objective is to develop a compound that assists in intraoperative visualization of cancer, which would have the potential to improve surgical cure rates and outcomes. We report the biological characterization of Compound-17, which is labeled with IRdye800, allowing fluorescent visualization of MTC mouse models. We found that the agent has high affinity for two human MTC cell lines (TT and MZ-CRC1) in vitro and in vivo. We further tested the affinity of the compound in a newly developed MTC orthotopic xenograft model and found that Compound-17 produces fluorescent signals within MTC-derived orthotopic xenografts in comparison with a sequence-jumbled control compound and surrounding normal tissues. Compound-17 is a unique and effective molecule for MTC identification that may have therapeutic potential.