Special Issue "Advance in Molecular Diagnostics and Imaging"

Guest Editor
Dr. Zhen Cheng
Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford and Bio-X Program, Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection, Stanford University, 1201 Welch Road, Lucas Center, P095, Stanford, CA 94305-5484, USA
Website: http://chenglab.stanford.edu/
E-Mail: zcheng@stanford.edu
Phone: +650 723 7866
Fax: +650 736 7925
Interests: molecular imaging; bionanotechnology; cancer research

Dear Colleagues,

Early diagnosis and effective monitoring the treatment efficacy of malignant tumor are essential for minimizing patients’ morbidity and mortality. Traditional diagnosis of malignancy is based on pathologic examination, whereas molecular diagnostics and imaging go beyond structural assessment. They are emerging methodologies for the early detection of cancer and expected to be very usefully for noninvasively monitoring early treatment response. Molecular probes can be specific targeting molecules, such as receptor ligands, enzyme substrates, and antibodies of high specificity for selected protein targets. They provide important information about pathophysiologic processes behind tumor formation. The development of novel molecular probes is thus critical to the modern molecular medicine. Multimodality imaging combines the advantages of different imaging technique such as PET, SPECT, MRI, CT, ultrasound and optics to yield highly detailed anatomic and molecular information of living organisms. This special issue aims to call research and review articles on the latest advancement in the development and application of novel molecular diagnostic and imaging techniques in cancer research.

Dr. Zhen Cheng
Guest Editor

Submission

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• molecular diagnostics
• early-stage detection
• cancer
• molecular probe
• multimodality imaging

Type of Paper: Article
Title: A Multi-camera System for Bioluminescence Tomography in Preclinical Oncology Research
Author: Ralph P. Mason
Affiliation: The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA; E-Mail: Ralph.Mason@UTSouthwestern.edu
Abstract: Bioluminescent imaging of cells expressing luciferase is a valuable noninvasive technique for investigating molecular events and tumor dynamics in the living animal. Current usage is often limited to planar imaging, but a tomographic imaging approach would enhance the usefulness of this technique for quantitative biomedical studies by allowing accurate determination of tumor size and attribution of the emitted light to a specific organ or tissue. We report here a novel approach using multiple rotating cameras that, when combined with image reconstruction software, provides the desired representation of point source metastases.

Type of Paper: Review
Title: Current Staging Procedures for Urinary Bladder Cancer
Author(s): Tobias Maurer ^1,*, Matthias Eiber ², Thomas Horn ¹, Matthias Heck ¹, Jürgen E. Gschwend ¹, and Ambros J. Beer ²
Affiliation(s): ¹ Department of Urology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University Munich, Ismaniger Str. 22, 81675 Munich, Germany; ² Department of Nuclear Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University Munich, Ismaniger Str. 22, 81675 Munich, Germany; E-Mail: t.maurer@lrz.tum.deAbstract: Currently computed tomography (CT) represents the most widely used standard imaging modality in muscle-invasive urinary bladder cancer. Visualization of local tumor or depth of invasion as well as lymph node staging, however, is often impaired. Magnetic resonance tomography (MRI) with diffusions-weighted sequences, determination of ADC-values or utilization of supraparamagnetic iron nanoparticles potentially exhibits advantages in the assessment of local tumor or lymph node involvement and therefore might play a role in routine staging of urinary bladder cancer in the future. Likewise, positron emission tomography (PET) with the currently utilized tracers 18F-FDG, 11C-choline and 11C-acetate is investigated in bladder cancer patients—mostly in combination with diagnostic CT. Although promising results could be obtained for these PET/CT examinations in smaller series, their true value cannot be determined at present.
Keywords: urinary bladder cancer; MRI; PET/CT; FDG; choline; actetate