Faculty, Staff and Student Publications
Publication Date
3-28-2025
Journal
Science Advances
Abstract
Metabolic imaging produces powerful visual assessments of organ function in vivo. Current techniques can be improved by safely increasing metabolic contrast. The gold standard, 2-[18F]fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) imaging, is limited by radioactive exposure and sparse assessment of metabolism beyond glucose uptake and retention. Deuterium magnetic resonance imaging (DMRI) with [6,6-2H2]glucose is nonradioactive, achieves tumor metabolic contrast, but can be improved by enriched contrast from deuterated water (HDO) based imaging. Here, we developed a DMRI protocol employing [2H7]glucose. Imaging 2H-signal and measuring HDO production in tumor-bearing mice detected differential glucose utilization across baseline tumors, tumors treated with vehicle control or anti-glycolytic BRAFi and MEKi therapy, and contralateral healthy tissue. Control tumors generated the most 2H-signal and HDO. To our knowledge this is the first application of DMRI with [2H7]glucose for tumoral treatment monitoring. This approach demonstrates HDO as a marker of tumor glucose utilization and suggests translational capability in humans due to its safety, noninvasiveness, and suitability for serial monitoring.
Keywords
Animals, Glucose, Deuterium, Mice, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Neoplasms, Cell Line, Tumor, Positron-Emission Tomography, Fluorodeoxyglucose F18, Treatment Outcome
DOI
10.1126/sciadv.adr0568
PMID
40138413
PMCID
PMC11939044
PubMedCentral® Posted Date
3-26-2025
PubMedCentral® Full Text Version
Post-print
Published Open-Access
yes
Included in
Bioinformatics Commons, Biomedical Informatics Commons, Immunotherapy Commons, Medical Sciences Commons, Oncology Commons