Theranostics imaging of tumours labelled with gold nanoparticles: Concept validation

The present contribution lies in the framework of a research effort aimed at identifying the most suitable theranostics imaging techniques able to map the distribution of functionalized nanoparticles acting as biological markers taken up by specific cellular receptors in healthy and pathological biological tissues and to give a map of cellular radio-sensitivity across the tumour volume, in order to guide radiation dose prescription in intensity modulated radiotherapy. The results presented in this contribution stem out a collaborative interdisciplinary effort arising from converging research paths: tissue engineering 3D in vitro cancer models for precise delineation of mechanisms; manufacturing gold nanoparticles targeted to cancer for imaging; development of sensitive x-ray diagnostic methods for imaging biomarkers; and assessing the radiobiological impact during radiotherapy treatments. The contribution is organized as follows: i) introduction, ii) development of tissue-engineered biosamples, iii) XRF imaging spectrometer design and performance, iv) experimental results and discussion.