Pacific Rim Symposium on Surfaces, Coatings and Interfaces (PacSurf 2016)
    Biomaterial Surfaces & Interfaces Tuesday Sessions
       Session BI-TuM

Paper BI-TuM5
Advancing our Understanding of Tumor Biology with Imaging Time-Of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS)

Tuesday, December 13, 2016, 9:20 am, Room Milo

Session: Bioimaging & Bionanotechnology
Presenter: Lara Gamble, University of Washington, USA
Authors: L.J. Gamble, University of Washington, USA
D.J. Graham, University of Washington, USA
B. Bluestein, University of Washington, USA
Correspondent: Click to Email
Imaging time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) can provide images of tissues with chemical and molecular specificity. These chemically specific images can improve our understanding of biological processes. Our current research has utilized this technique to map the chemical changes in the composition and distribution of metabolic related molecules within a tumor and the tumor microenvironment in order to study tumor development and progression in inducible and regressible mouse pancreatic β-cell neoplasia. Using ToF-SIMS, the chemistry of tumor microenvironments and lipid metabolomics relationship to cancer and tissue can be visualized on a cellular and sub-cellular level. Samples mounted on ITO substrates can be analyzed with ToF-SIMS and directly correlated with immunohistochemical and/or H&E images taken on the same sample. Imaging principal component analysis (PCA) is used to identify chemical regions that correlate with the tumor and the surrounding tumor environment. Preliminary results using PCA analysis of ToF-SIMS image data easily separate the tumor chemistry from the surrounding tissue within the first principal component. Differences in chemistry between the tumor and surrounding tissue suggest a preferential uptake of fatty acids 18:3, 18:2 within the tumor. The data shows an absence of Mg+ within the islet tumor and small, higher signal regions on the periphery of the tumor that correlate with increased CN-, CNO-, C7H10O+, and Fe+ ToF-SIMS peaks. This work demonstrates the high resolution capability of ToF-SIMS as the data clearly reveals intratumor chemical heterogeneity as localized high intensity regions for specific chemical signatures. It also highlights the utility of acquiring ToF-SIMS images and traditional H&E images on the same sample.