# Transparent Tumor Tomography (T3): Multi-Parameter 3D Imaging for Tumor Immunotherapy

> **NIH NIH R00** · UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO · 2021 · $248,999

## Abstract

Project Summary
 This proposal aims to apply an imaging technique for three-dimensional (3D) visualization and mapping of
the tumor and microenvironment including cancer cells, stromal cells, immune cells, and vascular cells. The
capability to determine the location, density, and functional orientation of different cell populations throughout a
tumor would be a powerful tool not only for cancer biology but also for improving diagnosis and advancing the
development of effective therapies. Although immunohistochemistry (IHC)/immunofluorescence (IF) staining
has long been used in cancer diagnostics, conventional IHC/IF methodology is based on localization of
antigens in single thin sections. Considering that most cells in the field of view may be only fragments,
interpretation of thin section staining is subject to multiple artifacts. Significantly, IHC/IF may fail to demonstrate
important features such as pushing margin, lymphocytic infiltrate, or squamous change, leaving room for
diagnostic and therapeutic uncertainties.
 Recent progress in tissue optical clearing and light microscopy enable 3D fluorescent imaging of normally
opaque, thick tissues and organs. Dramatic examples include progress mapping neuronal connectivity in whole
rodent brains at subcellular resolution. I sought to adapt these strategies to advance analysis of inflammatory
infiltrates, drug delivery, and therapeutic responses in whole mouse tumors and human tumor biopsies. In
order to advance 3D tumor imaging, I optimized optical clearing, cell staining, high resolution imaging, and
computational reconstruction. Eventually, I developed a 3D tumor imaging method, Transparent Tumor
Tomography (T3), as a tool to visualize and map tumors at single cell resolution. In this project, I will apply T3
for spatial analysis of tumor immunology and immunotherapy. T3-mediated 3D tumor imaging will provide
integrated spatial information regarding antibody drug distribution and immune contexts in whole tumors which
will be useful as a new assay tool for cancer immunotherapy research.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10159252
- **Project number:** 5R00EB022636-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO
- **Principal Investigator:** Steve Seung-Young Lee
- **Activity code:** R00 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $248,999
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-05-10 → 2022-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10159252

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10159252, Transparent Tumor Tomography (T3): Multi-Parameter 3D Imaging for Tumor Immunotherapy (5R00EB022636-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10159252. Licensed CC0.

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