Quantitative In Vivo Imaging of Breast Tumor Extracellular Matrix

SHG intensity combined with the F/B ratio provides unique measures of the local density of ordered collagen, as well as the characteristic length scale of this ordering. In order to fully implement F/B ratio measurements to understand the dynamic ordering of collagen in living tumors, we must be able to measure this property in vivo, in intact tissue, which stops us from using a forwards detector. In this annual report, we described ongoing work developing optical methods to quantify the breast tumor collagen SHG F/B scattering ratio in intact tumors in vivo, i.e. without a forwards detector. In future studies this information will be used to determine how manipulation of gene expression by tumor associated macrophages affects collagen ordering, and to determine if SHG measurement of collagen ordering provides a clinically useful measure of metastatic ability.
The original document contains color images.