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  • Review Article
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Multiplexed imaging in oncology

Nature Biomedical Engineering volume 6, pages 527–540 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

In oncology, technologies for clinical molecular imaging are used to diagnose patients, establish the efficacy of treatments and monitor the recurrence of disease. Multiplexed methods increase the number of disease-specific biomarkers that can be detected simultaneously, such as the overexpression of oncogenic proteins, aberrant metabolite uptake and anomalous blood perfusion. The quantitative localization of each biomarker could considerably increase the specificity and the accuracy of technologies for clinical molecular imaging to facilitate granular diagnoses, patient stratification and earlier assessments of the responses to administered therapeutics. In this Review, we discuss established techniques for multiplexed imaging and the most promising emerging multiplexing technologies applied to the imaging of isolated tissues and cells and to non-invasive whole-body imaging. We also highlight advances in radiology that have been made possible by multiplexed imaging.

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Fig. 1: Combinations of biomarkers for optimal multiplexed imaging.
Fig. 2: Imaging modalities, arranged according to resolution and multiplexing capability.
Fig. 3: Cell-based multiplexed imaging techniques.
Fig. 4: Multiplexed clinical imaging modalities.
Fig. 5: Intraoperative multiplexed fluorescence imaging.
Fig. 6: Optoacoustic imaging techniques discriminate between multiplexed signals.
Fig. 7: Raman imaging with SERS nanoparticles.

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Acknowledgements

The work of R.W. was supported by the National Institute of Health grants R33CA202064, UH2CA202637, RO1CA204019, RO1CA206890 and UO1CA206997. The work of M.F.K. was supported by the National Institute of Health grants R01EB017748 and R01CA222836, a Pershing Square Sohn Prize, and the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. This work is dedicated to the memory of Moritz F. Kircher, our colleague, student, mentor and friend.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Chrysafis Andreou

  2. Center for Molecular Imaging and Nanotechnology (CMINT), Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Chrysafis Andreou

  3. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Chrysafis Andreou

  4. Center for Systems Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Ralph Weissleder

  5. Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Ralph Weissleder

  6. Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Ralph Weissleder

  7. Molecular Pharmacology Program, Sloan Kettering Institute, New York, NY, USA

    Moritz F. Kircher

  8. Department of Imaging, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Moritz F. Kircher

  9. Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Moritz F. Kircher

Authors
  1. Chrysafis Andreou
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  2. Ralph Weissleder
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  3. Moritz F. Kircher
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Contributions

All authors contributed to literature research, and to the writing and editing of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ralph Weissleder.

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Competing interests

R.W. has received consultancy payments from ModeRNA, Tarveda Pharmaceuticals, Alivio Therapeutics and Accure Health, and is a shareholder of T2Biosystems, Lumicell and Accure Health. All patents associated with R.W. have been assigned to and are handled by the Massachusetts General Hospital. M.F.K is a co-founder of RIO Imaging, which did not contribute to this manuscript. All patents associated with M.F.K. have been assigned to and are handled by Stanford University or Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, respectively. C.A. declares no competing interests.

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Andreou, C., Weissleder, R. & Kircher, M.F. Multiplexed imaging in oncology. Nat. Biomed. Eng 6, 527–540 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-022-00891-5

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