Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) detection in tumors is becoming a critical tool for predicting the outcome of various chemotherapy treatments, including advanced lung cancer and breast cancer.

COX-2 is an important biomarker because it is significantly overexpressed in inflamed tissues and some cancer cells while normal tissues do not express COX-2. An imaging agent that can non-invasively detect COX-2 in early stage cancer cells can be a valuable tool in personalizing drug treatment for patients.

XenoLight RediJect COX-2 probe is one of the range of XenoLight reagents for Caliper’s IVIS and Nuance optical imaging systems. RediJect COX-2 probe is a novel fluorescent imaging probe that specifically detects the COX-2 biomarker noninvasively in vivo and ex vivo in tissue sections. The COX-2 probe in conjunction with the IVIS imaging system provides the ability to non-invasively detect COX-2 in early-stage cancer cells, with a level of sensitivity and accuracy not attainable by conventional methods.

Caliper’s Nuance Microscopy imaging system with its liquid crystal tunable filter (LCTF) sets can be used to detect COX-2 in vitro in cancer cells and in fixed tissue sections from tumors where COX-2 is up-regulated. Nuance’s spectral unmixing feature efficiently separates COX-2 targeting signal from other fluorescent signal and tissue autofluorescence