Intravital imaging of the functions of immune cells in the tumor microenvironment during immunotherapy

Xuwen Peng; Yuke Wang; Jie Zhang; Zhihong Zhang; Shuhong Qi

doi:10.3389/fimmu.2023.1288273

Intravital imaging of the functions of immune cells in the tumor microenvironment during immunotherapy

Front Immunol. 2023 Dec 6:14:1288273. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1288273. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Xuwen Peng^{1

2}, Yuke Wang^{1

2}, Jie Zhang^{1

2}, Zhihong Zhang^{1

2}, Shuhong Qi^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
² MoE Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, School of Engineering Sciences, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.

Abstract

Cancer immunotherapy has developed rapidly in recent years and stands as one of the most promising techniques for combating cancer. To develop and optimize cancer immunotherapy, it is crucial to comprehend the interactions between immune cells and tumor cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME). The TME is complex, with the distribution and function of immune cells undergoing dynamic changes. There are several research techniques to study the TME, and intravital imaging emerges as a powerful tool for capturing the spatiotemporal dynamics, especially the movement behavior and the immune function of various immune cells in real physiological state. Intravital imaging has several advantages, such as high spatio-temporal resolution, multicolor, dynamic and 4D detection, making it an invaluable tool for visualizing the dynamic processes in the TME. This review summarizes the workflow for intravital imaging technology, multi-color labeling methods, optical imaging windows, methods of imaging data analysis and the latest research in visualizing the spatio-temporal dynamics and function of immune cells in the TME. It is essential to investigate the role played by immune cells in the tumor immune response through intravital imaging. The review deepens our understanding of the unique contribution of intravital imaging to improve the efficiency of cancer immunotherapy.

Keywords: cancer immunotherapy; immune cells; intravital imaging; movement behavior; spatio-temporal information; tumor microenvironment.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Diagnostic Imaging
Humans
Immunotherapy / methods
Intravital Microscopy / methods
Neoplasms* / diagnostic imaging
Neoplasms* / therapy
Tumor Microenvironment* / physiology

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31700808), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2020kfyXJJS112).