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Cancers
Special Issues
Applications of Ex Vivo Microscopy in Cancer Detection and Diagnosis
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Applications of Ex Vivo Microscopy in Cancer Detection and Diagnosis

A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Cancer Causes, Screening and Diagnosis".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2025 | Viewed by 2219

Special Issue Editor

Dr. J. Quincy Brown

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA
Interests: ex vivo microscopy; structured illumination; light sheet; tumor margins; biopsy; cancer

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Ex vivo microscopy is a set of emerging microscopy methods intended for rapid, high-resolution imaging of excised tissue samples. These modalities have the ability to achieve depth-resolved images of fresh, fixed, and/or optically cleared tissues at microscopic resolution in clinically relevant timeframes. However, the choice of an optimal imaging modality and contrast mechanism is heavily influenced by the particular application to be addressed. This Special Issue aims to highlight the wide diversity in modalities and approaches in the field through their applications in cancer detection and diagnosis. Modalities may include, but are not limited to, optical sectioning microscopies (confocal, multiphoton, structured illumination, and light sheet), optical coherence tomography, photoacoustic microscopy, microscopy with UV excitation, vibrational microscopy., etc. Applications may include, but are not limited to, rapid on-site evaluation of cancer biopsy, surgical tumor margin assessment, primary cancer diagnosis, and rapid 2D or 3D imaging of intact samples.

Dr. J. Quincy Brown
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cancers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • microscopy
  • cancer
  • optical sectioning
  • diagnosis
  • detection

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 10787 KiB  
Article
Re-Operation Rate for Breast Conserving Surgery Using Confocal Histolog Scanner for Intraoperative Margin Assessment—SHIELD Study
by Michael P. Lux, Zlatna Schuller, Sara Heimann, Verena M. C. Reichert, Christian Kersting, Horst Buerger and Mariana-Felicia Sandor
Cancers 2025, 17(10), 1640; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers17101640 - 12 May 2025
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Abstract
Introduction: In breast conserving surgery (BCS), 15–40% of patients must undergo a second surgery (re-operation) due to post-surgical cancer-positive margins. Efficient intraoperative assessment of lumpectomy margins can reduce this rate. Classical methods like specimen radiography and ultrasound have limitations. The SHIELD study [...] Read more.
Introduction: In breast conserving surgery (BCS), 15–40% of patients must undergo a second surgery (re-operation) due to post-surgical cancer-positive margins. Efficient intraoperative assessment of lumpectomy margins can reduce this rate. Classical methods like specimen radiography and ultrasound have limitations. The SHIELD study was conducted to prospectively quantify the reduction of the re-operation rate when the Histolog® Scanner (HLS) confocal microscope is intraoperatively used by surgeons for the margin assessment. Methods: 50 patients undergoing BCS were enrolled and analyzed. Lumpectomy margins were intraoperatively assessed by surgeons with the HLS in addition to standard-of-care techniques. Detected positive margins triggered the excision of additional recuts during the same surgery. Subsequent re-operation and detection rates were compared to historical data and pathology gold standards, respectively. Results: The study population included 32% of patients with pure invasive cancer(s), 18% with pure DCIS and 50% with invasive cancer(s) mixed with DCIS. The overall mean age was 63.56. All population features were statistically similar to the historical control (p > 0.1). Notably, 80.95% sensitivity and 99.53% specificity for breast cancer detection at the margin were intraoperatively achieved by the surgeons using the HLS. The re-operation rate in SHIELD was 10% (5/50) while the historical control was 30% (12/40) corresponding to a 67% reduction (p = 0.016). Notably, 17/21 positive margins were intraoperatively identified with the HLS while 4/21 were detected with standard-of-care techniques. Conclusions: The intraoperative use of the Histolog Scanner confocal microscope provides a significant increase in detection rates of lumpectomy positive margins resulting in a substantial reduction in the re-operation rate, while preserving specimen integrity without impact on histopathology assessment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applications of Ex Vivo Microscopy in Cancer Detection and Diagnosis)
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16 pages, 2164 KiB  
Article
Heterogeneous Formation of DNA Double-Strand Breaks and Cell-Free DNA in Leukemia T-Cell Line and Human Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells in Response to Topoisomerase II Inhibitors
by Christian Linke, Thilo von Hänisch, Julia Schröder, Werner Dammermann, Peter Markus Deckert, Mark Reinwald and Sandra Schwarzlose-Schwarck
Cancers 2024, 16(22), 3798; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers16223798 - 12 Nov 2024
Viewed by 1053
Abstract
Background: Improving precision medicine in chemotherapy requires highly sensitive and easily applicable diagnostic tools. In addition, non-invasive molecular real-time monitoring of cytotoxic response is highly desirable. Here, we employed the kinetics of DNA double-strand breaks (DSB) and cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in a cell [...] Read more.
Background: Improving precision medicine in chemotherapy requires highly sensitive and easily applicable diagnostic tools. In addition, non-invasive molecular real-time monitoring of cytotoxic response is highly desirable. Here, we employed the kinetics of DNA double-strand breaks (DSB) and cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in a cell model of topoisomerase II-inhibitors in T cell leukemia (Jurkat cells) compared to normal cells (peripheral blood mononuclear cells, PBMCs). Methods: We applied automated microscopy to quantify immuno-stained phosphorylated H2AX (γH2AX) as a marker for either DNA damage response (DDR) or cell death and quantitative PCR-based analysis of nuclear and mitochondrial cfDNA concentrations. Results: Jurkat cells displayed a DDR to cytotoxic drug treatment significantly earlier than PBMCs, and etoposide (ETP) induced DSB formation faster than doxorubicin (DOX) in both Jurkat and PBMCs. Jurkat cells exhibited an earlier cytotoxic response compared to PBMC, with a significantly increased mitochondrial cfDNA formation after 2 h of DOX application. In PBMCs, increased cell death was detected after 4 h of incubation with ETP, whereas DOX treatment was less effective. Conclusions: Both automated microscopy and mitochondrial cfDNA quantification analysis indicate that (malignant) Jurkat cells are more sensitive to DOX than (healthy) PBMC. Our real-time approach can improve DDR inducing drug selection and adaptation in cancer therapy and aids in decisions for optimal patient biosampling. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applications of Ex Vivo Microscopy in Cancer Detection and Diagnosis)
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