Intravital Imaging to Monitor Therapeutic Response in Moving Hypoxic Regions Resistant to PI3K Pathway Targeting in Pancreatic Cancer - UTU Research Portal

A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Intravital Imaging to Monitor Therapeutic Response in Moving Hypoxic Regions Resistant to PI3K Pathway Targeting in Pancreatic Cancer

Authors: Conway JRW, Warren SC, Herrmann D, Murphy KJ, Cazet AS, Vennin C, Shearer RF, Killen MJ, Magenau A, Mélénec P, Pinese M, Nobis M, Zaratzian A, Boulghourjian A, Da Silva AM, Adam ASA, Del Monte-Nieto G, Haigh JJ, Harvey RP, Croucher DR, Wang Y, Pajic M, Sansom OJ, Morton JP, Caldon CE, Timpson P

Publication year: 2018

Journal: Cell Reports

Journal name in source: Cell reports

Journal acronym: Cell Rep

Volume: 23

Issue: 11

First page : 3312

Last page: 3326

Number of pages: 15

ISSN: 2211-1247

eISSN: 2211-1247

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2018.05.038

Abstract

Application of advanced intravital imaging facilitates dynamic monitoring of pathway activity upon therapeutic inhibition. Here, we assess resistance to therapeutic inhibition of the PI3K pathway within the hypoxic microenvironment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and identify a phenomenon whereby pronounced hypoxia-induced resistance is observed for three clinically relevant inhibitors. To address this clinical problem, we have mapped tumor hypoxia by both immunofluorescence and phosphorescence lifetime imaging of oxygen-sensitive nanoparticles and demonstrate that these hypoxic regions move transiently around the tumor. To overlay this microenvironmental information with drug response, we applied a FRET biosensor for Akt activity, which is a key effector of the PI3K pathway. Performing dual intravital imaging of drug response in different tumor compartments, we demonstrate an improved drug response to a combination therapy using the dual mTORC1/2 inhibitor AZD2014 with the hypoxia-activated pro-drug TH-302.