Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2019 Jul;8(2):89-93.
doi: 10.7774/cevr.2019.8.2.89. Epub 2019 Jul 31.

Non-invasive molecular imaging of immune cell dynamics for vaccine research

Affiliations
Review

Non-invasive molecular imaging of immune cell dynamics for vaccine research

Hyewon Youn et al. Clin Exp Vaccine Res. 2019 Jul.

Abstract

In order to develop a successful vaccine against deadly diseases with a wide range of antigenic diversity, an in-depth knowledge of the molecules and signaling mechanisms between the vaccine candidates and immune cells is required. Therefore, monitoring vaccine components, such as antigen or adjuvants, and immune cell dynamics at the vaccination site or draining lymph nodes can provide important information to understand more about the vaccine response. This review briefly introduces and describes various non-invasive molecular imaging methods for visualizing immune cell dynamics after vaccination.

Keywords: Immune cell dynamics; Non-invasive molecular imaging; Vaccines.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Non-invasive molecular imaging modalities for vaccine research. (A) Imaging modalities for optical imaging (fluorescence, bioluminescence imaging). (B) Imaging modalities for medical imaging (PET, SPECT, CT, MRI, US). (C) In vivo sensitivity and resolution of each imaging modality. (D) In vivo penetration and resolution of each imaging modality. BLI, bioluminescence imaging; GFP, green fluorescent protein; i.p., intraperitoneal injection; i.v., intravenous injection; MR, magnetic resonance; NIR, near-infrared; PET, positron emission tomography; SPECT, single photon emission computed tomography; US, ultrasonography.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. (A, B) Direct labeling and indirect labeling for cell tracking.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3. Examples of non-invasive molecular imaging for vaccine research. (A) Imaging immune cell dynamics with optical reporter expressing transgenic mouse. (B) Imaging immune cell dynamics with single photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT). TG, transgenic; IM, intramuscular injection.

References

    1. Moxon ER, Siegrist CA. The next decade of vaccines: societal and scientific challenges. Lancet. 2011;378:348–359. - PubMed
    1. Pulendran B, Ahmed R. Translating innate immunity into immunological memory: implications for vaccine development. Cell. 2006;124:849–863. - PubMed
    1. Youn H, Hong KJ. In vivo non invasive molecular imaging for immune cell tracking in small animals. Immune Netw. 2012;12:223–229. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kinnear E, Caproni LJ, Tregoning JS. A comparison of red fluorescent proteins to model DNA vaccine expression by whole animal in vivo imaging. PLoS One. 2015;10:e0130375. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mandl S, Schimmelpfennig C, Edinger M, Negrin RS, Contag CH. Understanding immune cell trafficking patterns via in vivo bioluminescence imaging. J Cell Biochem Suppl. 2002;39:239–248. - PubMed