Cell tracking using gold nanoparticles and computed tomography imaging

Cell-based therapies utilize transplantation of living cells with therapeutic traits to alleviate numerous diseases and disorders. The use of such biological agents is an attractive alternative for diseases that existing medicine cannot effectively treat. Although very promising, translating cell therapy to the clinic has proven to be challenging, due to inconsistent results in preclinical and clinical studies. To examine the underlying cause for these inconsistencies, it is crucial to noninvasively monitor the accuracy of cell injection, and cell survival and migration patterns. The combination of classical imaging techniques with cellular contrast agents—mainly nanotechnological-based—has enabled significant developments in cell-tracking methodologies. One novel methodology, based on computed tomography (CT) as an imaging modality and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as contrast agents, has recently gained interest for its clinical applicability and cost-effectiveness. Studies have shown that AuNPs can be used to efficiently label a variety of cell types, including stem cells and immune cells, without damaging their therapeutic efficacy. Successful in vivo experiments have demonstrated noninvasive, quantitative and longitudinal cell tracking with high sensitivity. This concept has the potential to be used not only as a research tool, but in clinical settings as well. WIREs Nanomed Nanobiotechnol 2018, 10:e1480. doi: 10.1002/wnan.1480. This article is categorized under: Diagnostic Tools > In Vivo Nanodiagnostics and Imaging.