Optical imaging of metabolic profiles in responder and non-responder human lung tumors

Two-photon microscopy was used to investigate responder vs non-responder NSCLC tumors. We received twenty-four NSCLC specimens, resected before therapy, and classified them as responder and non-responder according to subject-detail reports. Two-photon microscopy was used to determine an optical redox ratio and mean NADH lifetime data for each sample. The optical redox ratio revealed a decrease in the responder group when compared to the non-responder tumors, whereas the responder tumor group presented a longer mean NADH lifetime when compared to non-responder group. Our current results point to the potential of metabolic imaging in providing information on treatment response of tumors prior to receiving therapy.