Stretching the timescale of intravital imaging in tumors

Since the time it was pioneered in 1992, intravital imaging of tumors at cellular resolution has offered us the extremely important opportunity of “seeing biology”. However, until now, most studies were monitoring tumor cell behavior in the same animal over short times, requiring the combining of acquired data into a hypothesis via statistical analysis. In the last several months, different groups have independently developed techniques to extend the time scale of intravital imaging to several days. This improvement allows one to address the connection between tumor cell behavior and the microenvironment which surrounds them. We can now assess dynamics of the cell-cell interactions in tumors, analyze tumor cell fate and changes in the tumor extracellular matrix which accompany tumor progression.