Authors: Valérie Rouffiac, Corinne Laplace-Builhé, Michel Urbain, Mélanie Polrot, François Scherninski

Abstract: The optimization of detection of subclinical lesions and intraoperative margins delineation is an important challenge in oncology to decrease the risk of local recurrence and preserve healthy tissue. For many years, clinical trials using near-infrared (NIR) optical imaging combined with ICG as contrast agent, try to address these issues. ICG is already approved for clinical use, but as a blood pool agent, it is not specific to tumor tissue. ICG shows a passive targeting based on enhanced permeability and retention effect, and thus is not ideally suited for image-guided surgery. In the present work, we assessed a new NIR fluorescent probe, the CJ215, in comparison with ICG, for tumor detection in a preclinical model of orthotopic mammary cancer.