Insight into Drug Distribution and Local Concentration using Multispectral Imaging of Fluorescent Drugs in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Introduction

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic relapsing inflammatory disorders of the gastrointestinal tract affecting 2.5 million patients in Europe alone. The majority of newly diagnosed patients are in adolescence or early adulthood and are in the midst of their family life, career, and social development.

Impact of IBD

Though not life-threatening, the disease comes with significant morbidity and complex treatment strategies. It is associated with a high social burden and medical costs.

Project Overview

msGUIDE aims to revolutionize IBD treatment by offering high-performance insight into local drug distribution and concentrations. This can lead to personalized medicine in IBD patients and early drug development through:

1. Identifying specific targeted cells of drugs
2. Elucidating the individual phenotype
3. Enabling patient stratification

Methodology

This will be achieved by reinvigorating endoscopy to overcome major challenges for medical application. The goal of msGUIDE is to develop a highly sensitive novel imaging technology consisting of a Near-Infrared Fluorescence and Reflectance Multispectral Imaging (NIR-FRMI) unit integrated into a never-before-seen High-definition White Light Endoscope (HD-WLE).

Objectives

The aim is to:

• Quantify drug distribution and concentration
• Identify the individual drug target cells in the gut

With this groundbreaking system, we offer an operator-independent endoscopic method to establish the optimal dose and to monitor the treatment response in IBD patients in real-time.

Conclusion

This will allow for an individual, precise, and quantitative diagnosis leading to a more personalized, targeted, and thus more effective treatment in IBD and common diseases in general.