Patent ID: 8685752

Claim:
A method of detecting an imaging agent bound to pathogenic cells comprising the steps of: (i) combining 1) an ex vivo patient sample comprising the pathogenic cells collected from a patient, wherein the ex vivo patient sample is a body fluid of the patient, and 2) a composition comprising a conjugate of the general formula A b -X wherein the group A b comprises a ligand that binds to the pathogenic cells and the group X is the imaging agent, wherein the imaging agent emits a detectable signal, wherein A b comprises a folate receptor binding ligand, and wherein the folate receptor binding ligand, binds to the folate receptor on the pathogenic cells; and (ii) detecting the signal from the imaging agent bound to the pathogenic cells using flow cytometry, wherein the method is capable of quantifying the pathogenic cells at about 1 to about 10 cells per two milliliters of the ex vivo patient sample.