HealthcareHow Preclinical In Vivo Imaging Advances Translational Research

Preclinical in vivo imaging offers real-time, non-invasive insight into disease mechanisms, therapeutic effects, and drug behavior, supporting the smarter and faster translation of science into new treatments, diagnostic tools, and healthcare interventions.

Introduction

Translational research bridges the gap between laboratory research and clinical, real-world application, taking the findings from controlled clinical studies and translating them into practical interventions. Where some research focuses on understanding biological mechanisms with no direct link to patient care, and other research seeks to observe, describe, or develop theoretical models to inform clinical practice, translational research is specifically intended to move scientific knowledge into applications for both clinical and community settings. Translational research typically works from ‘bench to bedside’, or from ‘bedside to community’, driving the implementation of new treatments, diagnostic tools, and healthcare interventions. In vivo imaging plays a key role in advancing translational research, allowing researchers to monitor disease progression, treatment response, and biological mechanisms in a way that closely mirrors human physiology. Without in vivo imaging, it would be extremely difficult to progress scientific discoveries into effective treatments, especially considering the complexity of clinical trial regulations. This article has been carefully constructed to consider how preclinical in vivo imaging advances translational research.

What is in vivo imaging?

‘In vivo’ is Latin for ‘within the living’, with in vivo imaging referring to a range of techniques used to visualize and study biological processes in living organisms. Non-invasive, real-time monitoring allows for repeated observation over time, allowing researchers to monitor biological processes, anatomical structures, molecular activities, and metabolic functions as they naturally occur, including tumor development, disease progression, and treatment response.

In vivo imaging can be done via a range of different modalities, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET), computed tomography (CT), optical imaging (such as bioluminescence and fluorescence), ultrasound, and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), all of which have complex sensitivities and research benefits.

In vivo applications in translational research

Translational research is often broken up into phases, moving knowledge of basic science to proof-of-concept studies (T1), clinical trials (T2), medical practice (T3), and public health applications (T4). The use of preclinical in vivo imaging sits predominantly in T1 and T2, where it enables early evaluation of disease mechanisms and drug efficacy. However, it also plays a supportive role in T3 and T4, contributing to guideline and protocol development and supporting population-level intervention and screening strategies.

• Key benefits for translational research:
• Visualize disease mechanisms
• Evaluate drug biodistribution and pharmacodynamics
• Assess treatment response before human trials
• Helps with lead compound selection and optimal dosing schedules
• Provides non-invasive biomarkers of efficacy and safety
• Allows real-time monitoring of treatment effects
• Enables patient stratification or response predictions

Mitigating translational research challenges

Drug development typically has high attrition rates, around 90% of drugs fail, and studies often come across challenges reproducing preclinical findings into human applicants, which remains a major barrier to the translation of research findings. Only approximately 0.1% of new drug candidates move from preclinical research into human studies, ultimately gaining regulatory approval. In vivo imaging helps to reduce such risks and improve this success rate, supporting future research through the early generation of quantifiable, longitudinal data. By closely replicating human physiology and potential clinical outcomes, in vivo imaging generates data that can more accurately support lead compound selection and dose optimization, reducing attrition and increasing a trial’s likelihood of success. Without translational research, we would likely be decades behind in terms of medical innovation, therapeutic development, and the implementation of new healthcare interventions.

In vivo imaging allows for:

• Early proof-of-concept for the mechanism of action
• Real-time monitoring of disease models
• Reduction in animal use through longitudinal tracking
• A collection of imaging biomarkers that can be translated into clinical trials
• Reduced reliance on invasive or terminal procedures
• Better alignment between preclinical and clinical endpoints

Therapeutic areas

The use of preclinical in vivo imaging has generated results across various therapeutic areas, most notably Oncology and CNS. Preclinical in vivo imaging is often used in oncology research for its ability to monitor tumors in real-time, over time, which has contributed to the understanding of tumor growth, metastasis tracking, target engagement, therapy response, and the development of personalized treatment models. Preclinical in vivo imaging provides much-needed insight into the complex physiological, cellular, and molecular behavior of tumors. For example, bioluminescence imaging (BLI) has enabled researchers to track tumor growth, spread, and treatment response in both breast and pancreatic cancer. Within CNS research, which is inherently complex due to the intricate nature of the brain and spinal cord, in vivo imaging plays an extremely important role in neurodegeneration tracking, drug delivery monitoring, and model validation.

Accelerating discovery with a clinical trial imaging partner

Each in vivo imaging modality has specific advantages and sensitivities, meaning it is extremely important to select the right imaging technique for your clinical research goals. Research published in Translational Medicine Communications states that often failure in translational research can be explained in part by methodological flaws and poor experimental designs in preclinical in vitro and in vivo studies, something which should be avoidable through rigorous planning, appropriate model selection, and the integration of expert input. Collaborating with an imaging partner, experienced in preclinical in vivo research, is one way to alleviate such risk.

Perceptive Discovery, who facilitate a comprehensive array of non-invasive preclinical in vivo imaging techniques, helps to bridge the gap between preclinical insight and clinical trial success. With over 15 years of experience and a global imaging infrastructure, Perceptive Discovery ensures rigorous scientific analysis and high-quality data to support translational innovation.

Perceptive discovery can help you to produce reproducible, high-quality data relevant to key clinical outcomes. Learn more about Perceptive Discovery Services today, or contact a Discovery solutions specialist.

Resources

Nature. Parsing clinical success rates. https://www.nature.com/articles/nrd.2016.136

Methods in Molecular Biology. High-throughput quantitative bioluminescence imaging for assessing tumor burden. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19685298/

Translational Medicine Communications. Lost in translation: the valley of death across preclinical and clinical divide – identification of problems and overcoming obstacles. https://transmedcomms.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s41231-019-0050-7

Nature. Longitudinal bioluminescence imaging to monitor breast tumor growth and treatment response using the chick chorioallantoic membrane model. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-20854-9

Pharmaceutics. Targeted Bioluminescent Imaging of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Using Nanocarrier-Complexed EGFR-Binding Affibody–Gaussia Luciferase Fusion Protein. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10384630/

Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy. Imaging biomarkers in neurodegeneration: current and future practices. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7187531/