Immuno-Histo-X-ray Phase Contrast Tomography.

The still unmet ability of following the fate of specific cells or molecules within the whole body would give an outstanding breakthrough in the comprehension of disease mechanisms and in the monitoring of therapeutic approaches. Our idea is to push forward the bio-nanotechnology to a level where it serves the most advanced 3D bio-medical imaging to provide a multi-scale imaging ranging from the whole organ down to the cellular level, enabling high-resolution visualization of disease-relevant cells within the whole disease-altered biological context. We present here the first proof of concept of a novel tomography procedure, Immuno-Histo-X-ray Phase Contrast Tomography (XPCT) that combines cutting-edge XPCT, which provides detailed image of the whole organ, with molecular imaging at the cellular level, identifying the relevant cells via an immunohistochemistry-based approach. We combine metal nanoparticles and a single-domain antibody that target relevant cells. Our results lay the foundation for a new generation of 3D-bio-medical X-ray imaging.