Imaging Cancer Metabolism

A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Cancer Causes, Screening and Diagnosis".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 August 2022) | Viewed by 25024

Special Issue Editor

Institute of Biostructures and Bioimaging (IBB), National Research Council of Italy (CNR) Torino, Italy
Interests: MRI; CEST-MRI; cancer imaging; tumor acidosis; tumor microenvironment; tumor vascularization; responsive probes; molecular imaging; multimodality imaging; treatment response

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Dysregulated tumor metabolism, following hypoxia and poor perfusion, is a recognized hallmark of cancer. Beyond that, upregulated glycolysis, amino acid and lipid metabolism undergo similar reprogramming, providing additional opportunities not only for early detection and diagnosis, but also for targeted therapies that modify cancer metabolism.
Noninvasive imaging methods are ideal approaches for detecting early alterations in tumor metabolism and microenvironment, providing detailed descriptions of the complex relationships that characterize cancer metabolic pathways. Moreover, the capability of imaging techniques to detect metabolic changes upon treatment can be exploited for monitoring (early) response to therapies.
This Special Issue aims to cover the most advanced imaging techniques that can provide new insights into cancer biology and metabolism. We welcome submissions from the diverse field of imaging, such as PET, MRI (including chemical exchange saturation transfer – CEST MRI and hyperpolarized MR), MRS, Optical Imaging, Photoacoustic Imaging, and Electron Paramagnetic Imaging. We focus on advances in technologies/methods and in development of new dedicated tracers/radioligands or contrast agents that can assess metabolic pathways or metabolites and related alterations (tumor acidosis/pH imaging). In addition, researchers in the field are invited to contribute their recent findings in both the detection and imaging of metabolic substrates and in monitoring response to therapy, covering preclinical and clinical studies.

Dr. Dario Livio Longo
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cancers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Cancer imaging
  • Imaging tumor metabolism
  • Imaging tumor acidosis
  • Imaging response to therapy
  • Multi-modality tumor imaging
  • Molecular Imaging
  • Responsive probes for cancer imaging
  • Preclinical and clinical cancer imaging

Published Papers (8 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

18 pages, 3604 KiB  
Article
In Vivo MRI-CEST Tumor pH Imaging Detects Resistance to Proton Pump Inhibitors in Human Prostate Cancer Murine Models
by Pietro Irrera, Lorena Consolino, Miriam Roberto, Martina Capozza, Chetan Dhakan, Antonella Carella, Alessia Corrado, Daisy Villano, Annasofia Anemone, Victor Navarro-Tableros, Martina Bracesco, Walter Dastrù, Silvio Aime and Dario Livio Longo
Cancers 2022, 14(19), 4916; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/cancers14194916 - 07 Oct 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1953
Abstract
The tumor microenvironment acidification confers treatment resistance; therefore, the interference with pH regulating systems is considered a new therapeutic strategy. In this study, two human prostate cancer cell lines, PC3 and LNCaP, have been treated in vitro with proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), namely [...] Read more.
The tumor microenvironment acidification confers treatment resistance; therefore, the interference with pH regulating systems is considered a new therapeutic strategy. In this study, two human prostate cancer cell lines, PC3 and LNCaP, have been treated in vitro with proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), namely Lansoprazole, Esomeprazole (V-ATPases-inhibitors), Cariporide, and Amiloride (NHE1-inhibitors). The cell viability and pH were assessed at several drug concentrations either at normoxic or hypoxic conditions. Since Esomeprazole showed the highest toxicity towards the PC3 cancer cells compared to LNCaP ones, athymic nude mice bearing subcutaneous or orthotopic PC3 tumors were treated with Esomeprazole (dose: 2.5 mg/kg body weight) for a period of three weeks—and tumor growth was monitored. MRI-CEST tumor pH imaging with Iopamidol was performed upon treatment at 3 h, 1 week (in combination with FDG-PET), and after 2 weeks for evaluating acute, early, and late responses. Although acute tumor pH changes were observed in vivo, long-term studies on both PC3 prostate cancer models did not provide any significant change in tumor acidosis or tumor growth. In conclusion, this work shows that MRI-CEST tumor pH imaging is a valuable tool for assessing the in vivo treatment response to PPIs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Imaging Cancer Metabolism)
Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 2084 KiB  
Article
Hyperpolarized 13C-Pyruvate Metabolism as a Surrogate for Tumor Grade and Poor Outcome in Renal Cell Carcinoma—A Proof of Principle Study
by Stephan Ursprung, Ramona Woitek, Mary A. McLean, Andrew N. Priest, Mireia Crispin-Ortuzar, Cara R. Brodie, Andrew B. Gill, Marcel Gehrung, Lucian Beer, Antony C. P. Riddick, Johanna Field-Rayner, James T. Grist, Surrin S. Deen, Frank Riemer, Joshua D. Kaggie, Fulvio Zaccagna, Joao A. G. Duarte, Matthew J. Locke, Amy Frary, Tevita F. Aho, James N. Armitage, Ruth Casey, Iosif A. Mendichovszky, Sarah J. Welsh, Tristan Barrett, Martin J. Graves, Tim Eisen, Thomas J. Mitchell, Anne Y. Warren, Kevin M. Brindle, Evis Sala, Grant D. Stewart and Ferdia A. Gallagheradd Show full author list remove Hide full author list
Cancers 2022, 14(2), 335; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/cancers14020335 - 11 Jan 2022
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 2822
Abstract
Differentiating aggressive clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) from indolent lesions is challenging using conventional imaging. This work prospectively compared the metabolic imaging phenotype of renal tumors using carbon-13 MRI following injection of hyperpolarized [1-13C]pyruvate (HP-13C-MRI) and validated these [...] Read more.
Differentiating aggressive clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) from indolent lesions is challenging using conventional imaging. This work prospectively compared the metabolic imaging phenotype of renal tumors using carbon-13 MRI following injection of hyperpolarized [1-13C]pyruvate (HP-13C-MRI) and validated these findings with histopathology. Nine patients with treatment-naïve renal tumors (6 ccRCCs, 1 liposarcoma, 1 pheochromocytoma, 1 oncocytoma) underwent pre-operative HP-13C-MRI and conventional proton (1H) MRI. Multi-regional tissue samples were collected using patient-specific 3D-printed tumor molds for spatial registration between imaging and molecular analysis. The apparent exchange rate constant (kPL) between 13C-pyruvate and 13C-lactate was calculated. Immunohistochemistry for the pyruvate transporter (MCT1) from 44 multi-regional samples, as well as associations between MCT1 expression and outcome in the TCGA-KIRC dataset, were investigated. Increasing kPL in ccRCC was correlated with increasing overall tumor grade (ρ = 0.92, p = 0.009) and MCT1 expression (r = 0.89, p = 0.016), with similar results acquired from the multi-regional analysis. Conventional 1H-MRI parameters did not discriminate tumor grades. The correlation between MCT1 and ccRCC grade was confirmed within a TCGA dataset (p < 0.001), where MCT1 expression was a predictor of overall and disease-free survival. In conclusion, metabolic imaging using HP-13C-MRI differentiates tumor aggressiveness in ccRCC and correlates with the expression of MCT1, a predictor of survival. HP-13C-MRI may non-invasively characterize metabolic phenotypes within renal cancer. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Imaging Cancer Metabolism)
Show Figures

Graphical abstract

14 pages, 2974 KiB  
Article
Impact of Inhibition of the Mitochondrial Pyruvate Carrier on the Tumor Extracellular pH as Measured by CEST-MRI
by Chloé Buyse, Nicolas Joudiou, Cyril Corbet, Olivier Feron, Lionel Mignion, Julien Flament and Bernard Gallez
Cancers 2021, 13(17), 4278; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/cancers13174278 - 25 Aug 2021
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2741
Abstract
(1) Background: The acidosis of the tumor micro-environment may have profound impact on cancer progression and on the efficacy of treatments. In the present study, we evaluated the impact of a treatment with UK-5099, a mitochondrial pyruvate carrier (MPC) inhibitor on tumor extracellular [...] Read more.
(1) Background: The acidosis of the tumor micro-environment may have profound impact on cancer progression and on the efficacy of treatments. In the present study, we evaluated the impact of a treatment with UK-5099, a mitochondrial pyruvate carrier (MPC) inhibitor on tumor extracellular pH (pHe); (2) Methods: glucose consumption, lactate secretion and extracellular acidification rate (ECAR) were measured in vitro after exposure of cervix cancer SiHa cells and breast cancer 4T1 cells to UK-5099 (10 µM). Mice bearing the 4T1 tumor model were treated daily during four days with UK-5099 (3 mg/kg). The pHe was evaluated in vivo using either chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST)-MRI with iopamidol as pHe reporter probe or 31P-NMR spectroscopy with 3-aminopropylphosphonate (3-APP). MR protocols were applied before and after 4 days of treatment; (3) Results: glucose consumption, lactate release and ECAR were increased in both cell lines after UK-5099 exposure. CEST-MRI showed a significant decrease in tumor pHe of 0.22 units in UK-5099-treated mice while there was no change over time for mice treated with the vehicle. Parametric images showed a large heterogeneity in response with 16% of voxels shifting to pHe values under 7.0. In contrast, 31P-NMR spectroscopy was unable to detect any significant variation in pHe; (4) Conclusions: MPC inhibition led to a moderate acidification of the extracellular medium in vivo. CEST-MRI provided high resolution parametric images (0.44 µL/voxel) of pHe highlighting the heterogeneity of response within the tumor when exposed to UK-5099. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Imaging Cancer Metabolism)
Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 3461 KiB  
Article
Simultaneous Recording of the Uptake and Conversion of Glucose and Choline in Tumors by Deuterium Metabolic Imaging
by Andor Veltien, Jack van Asten, Niveditha Ravichandran, Robin A. de Graaf, Henk M. De Feyter, Egbert Oosterwijk and Arend Heerschap
Cancers 2021, 13(16), 4034; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/cancers13164034 - 10 Aug 2021
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2260
Abstract
Increased glucose and choline uptake are hallmarks of cancer. We investigated whether the uptake and conversion of [2H9]choline alone and together with that of [6,6′-2H2]glucose can be assessed in tumors via deuterium metabolic imaging (DMI) [...] Read more.
Increased glucose and choline uptake are hallmarks of cancer. We investigated whether the uptake and conversion of [2H9]choline alone and together with that of [6,6′-2H2]glucose can be assessed in tumors via deuterium metabolic imaging (DMI) after administering these compounds. Therefore, tumors with human renal carcinoma cells were grown subcutaneously in mice. Isoflurane anesthetized mice were IV infused in the MR magnet for ~20 s with ~0.2 mL solutions containing either [2H9]choline (0.05 g/kg) alone or together with [6,6′-2H2]glucose (1.3 g/kg). 2H MR was performed on a 11.7T MR system with a home-built 2H/1H coil using a 90° excitation pulse and 400 ms repetition time. 3D DMI was recorded at high resolution (2 × 2 × 2 mm) in 37 min or at low resolution (3.7 × 3.7 × 3.7 mm) in 2:24 min. Absolute tissue concentrations were calculated assuming natural deuterated water [HOD] = 13.7 mM. Within 5 min after [2H9]choline infusion, its signal appeared in tumor spectra representing a concentration increase to 0.3–1.2 mM, which then slowly decreased or remained constant over 100 min. In plasma, [2H9]choline disappeared within 15 min post-infusion, implying that its signal arises from tumor tissue and not from blood. After infusing a mixture of [2H9]choline and [6,6′-2H2]glucose, their signals were observed separately in tumor 2H spectra. Over time, the [2H9]choline signal broadened, possibly due to conversion to other choline compounds, [[6,6′-2H2]glucose] declined, [HOD] increased and a lactate signal appeared, reflecting glycolysis. Metabolic maps of 2H compounds, reconstructed from high resolution DMIs, showed their spatial tumor accumulation. As choline infusion and glucose DMI is feasible in patients, their simultaneous detection has clinical potential for tumor characterization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Imaging Cancer Metabolism)
Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 2715 KiB  
Article
Autofluorescence Imaging of Treatment Response in Neuroendocrine Tumor Organoids
by Amani A. Gillette, Christopher P. Babiarz, Ava R. VanDommelen, Cheri A. Pasch, Linda Clipson, Kristina A. Matkowskyj, Dustin A. Deming and Melissa C. Skala
Cancers 2021, 13(8), 1873; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/cancers13081873 - 14 Apr 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2939
Abstract
Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NET) account for roughly 60% of all neuroendocrine tumors. Low/intermediate grade human GEP-NETs have relatively low proliferation rates that animal models and cell lines fail to recapitulate. Short-term patient-derived cancer organoids (PDCOs) are a 3D model system that holds great [...] Read more.
Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NET) account for roughly 60% of all neuroendocrine tumors. Low/intermediate grade human GEP-NETs have relatively low proliferation rates that animal models and cell lines fail to recapitulate. Short-term patient-derived cancer organoids (PDCOs) are a 3D model system that holds great promise for recapitulating well-differentiated human GEP-NETs. However, traditional measurements of drug response (i.e., growth, proliferation) are not effective in GEP-NET PDCOs due to the small volume of tissue and low proliferation rates that are characteristic of the disease. Here, we test a label-free, non-destructive optical metabolic imaging (OMI) method to measure drug response in live GEP-NET PDCOs. OMI captures the fluorescence lifetime and intensity of endogenous metabolic cofactors NAD(P)H and FAD. OMI has previously provided accurate predictions of drug response on a single cell level in other cancer types, but this is the first study to apply OMI to GEP-NETs. OMI tested the response to novel drug combination on GEP-NET PDCOs, specifically ABT263 (navitoclax), a Bcl-2 family inhibitor, and everolimus, a standard GEP-NET treatment that inhibits mTOR. Treatment response to ABT263, everolimus, and the combination were tested in GEP-NET PDCO lines derived from seven patients, using two-photon OMI. OMI measured a response to the combination treatment in 5 PDCO lines, at 72 h post-treatment. In one of the non-responsive PDCO lines, heterogeneous response was identified with two distinct subpopulations of cell metabolism. Overall, this work shows that OMI provides single-cell metabolic measurements of drug response in PDCOs to guide drug development for GEP-NET patients. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Imaging Cancer Metabolism)
Show Figures

Graphical abstract

20 pages, 2891 KiB  
Article
In Vivo Optical Metabolic Imaging of Long-Chain Fatty Acid Uptake in Orthotopic Models of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
by Megan C. Madonna, Joy E. Duer, Joyce V. Lee, Jeremy Williams, Baris Avsaroglu, Caigang Zhu, Riley Deutsch, Roujia Wang, Brian T. Crouch, Matthew D. Hirschey, Andrei Goga and Nirmala Ramanujam
Cancers 2021, 13(1), 148; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/cancers13010148 - 05 Jan 2021
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 4795
Abstract
Targeting a tumor’s metabolic dependencies is a clinically actionable therapeutic approach; however, identifying subtypes of tumors likely to respond remains difficult. The use of lipids as a nutrient source is of particular importance, especially in breast cancer. Imaging techniques offer the opportunity to [...] Read more.
Targeting a tumor’s metabolic dependencies is a clinically actionable therapeutic approach; however, identifying subtypes of tumors likely to respond remains difficult. The use of lipids as a nutrient source is of particular importance, especially in breast cancer. Imaging techniques offer the opportunity to quantify nutrient use in preclinical tumor models to guide development of new drugs that restrict uptake or utilization of these nutrients. We describe a fast and dynamic approach to image fatty acid uptake in vivo and demonstrate its relevance to study both tumor metabolic reprogramming directly, as well as the effectiveness of drugs targeting lipid metabolism. Specifically, we developed a quantitative optical approach to spatially and longitudinally map the kinetics of long-chain fatty acid uptake in in vivo murine models of breast cancer using a fluorescently labeled palmitate molecule, Bodipy FL c16. We chose intra-vital microscopy of mammary tumor windows to validate our approach in two orthotopic breast cancer models: a MYC-overexpressing, transgenic, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) model and a murine model of the 4T1 family. Following injection, Bodipy FL c16 fluorescence increased and reached its maximum after approximately 30 min, with the signal remaining stable during the 30–80 min post-injection period. We used the fluorescence at 60 min (Bodipy60), the mid-point in the plateau region, as a summary parameter to quantify Bodipy FL c16 fluorescence in subsequent experiments. Using our imaging platform, we observed a two- to four-fold decrease in fatty acid uptake in response to the downregulation of the MYC oncogene, consistent with findings from in vitro metabolic assays. In contrast, our imaging studies report an increase in fatty acid uptake with tumor aggressiveness (6NR, 4T07, and 4T1), and uptake was significantly decreased after treatment with a fatty acid transport inhibitor, perphenazine, in both normal mammary pads and in the most aggressive 4T1 tumor model. Our approach fills an important gap between in vitro assays providing rich metabolic information at static time points and imaging approaches visualizing metabolism in whole organs at a reduced resolution. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Imaging Cancer Metabolism)
Show Figures

Graphical abstract

16 pages, 2511 KiB  
Article
Maintenance of Energy Homeostasis during Calorically Restricted Ketogenic Diet and Fasting-MR-Spectroscopic Insights from the ERGO2 Trial
by Katharina J. Wenger, Marlies Wagner, Patrick N. Harter, Kea Franz, Jörg Bojunga, Emmanouil Fokas, Detlef Imhoff, Claus Rödel, Johannes Rieger, Elke Hattingen, Joachim P. Steinbach, Ulrich Pilatus and Martin Voss
Cancers 2020, 12(12), 3549; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/cancers12123549 - 27 Nov 2020
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3716
Abstract
Background: The ERGO2 (Ernaehrungsumstellung bei Patienten mit Rezidiv eines Glioblastoms) MR-spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) subtrial investigated metabolism in patients randomized to calorically restricted ketogenic diet/intermittent fasting (crKD-IF) versus standard diet (SD) in addition to re-irradiation (RT) for recurrent malignant glioma. Intracerebral concentrations of ketone [...] Read more.
Background: The ERGO2 (Ernaehrungsumstellung bei Patienten mit Rezidiv eines Glioblastoms) MR-spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) subtrial investigated metabolism in patients randomized to calorically restricted ketogenic diet/intermittent fasting (crKD-IF) versus standard diet (SD) in addition to re-irradiation (RT) for recurrent malignant glioma. Intracerebral concentrations of ketone bodies (KB), intracellular pH (pHi), and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) were non-invasively determined. Methods: 50 patients were randomized (1:1): Group A keeping a crKD-IF for nine days, and Group B a SD. RT was performed on day 4–8. Twenty-three patients received an extended MRSI-protocol (1H decoupled 31P MRSI with 3D chemical shift imaging (CSI) and 2D 1H point-resolved spectroscopy (PRESS)) at a 3T scanner at baseline and on day 6. Voxels were selected from the area of recurrent tumor and contralateral hemisphere. Spectra were analyzed with LCModel, adding simulated signals of 3-hydroxybutyrate (βOHB), acetone (Acn) and acetoacetate (AcAc) to the standard basis set. Results: Acn was the only reliably MRSI-detectable KB within tumor tissue and/or normal appearing white matter (NAWM). It was detected in 4/11 patients in Group A and in 0/8 patients in Group B. MRSI results showed no significant depletion of ATP in tumor tissue of patients at day 6 during crKD-IF, even though there were a significant difference in ketone serum levels between Group A and B at day 6 and a decline in fasting glucose in Group A from baseline to day 6. The tumor specific alkaline pHi was maintained. Conclusions: Our metabolic findings suggest that tumor cells maintain energy homeostasis even with reduced serum glucose levels and may generate additional ATP through other sources. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Imaging Cancer Metabolism)
Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Review

Jump to: Research

17 pages, 1170 KiB  
Review
Current Trends in Non-Invasive Imaging of Interactions in the Liver Tumor Microenvironment Mediated by Tumor Metabolism
by Isabel Theresa Schobert and Lynn Jeanette Savic
Cancers 2021, 13(15), 3645; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/cancers13153645 - 21 Jul 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2629
Abstract
With the increasing understanding of resistance mechanisms mediated by the metabolic reprogramming in cancer cells, there is a growing clinical interest in imaging technologies that allow for the non-invasive characterization of tumor metabolism and the interactions of cancer cells with the tumor microenvironment [...] Read more.
With the increasing understanding of resistance mechanisms mediated by the metabolic reprogramming in cancer cells, there is a growing clinical interest in imaging technologies that allow for the non-invasive characterization of tumor metabolism and the interactions of cancer cells with the tumor microenvironment (TME) mediated through tumor metabolism. Specifically, tumor glycolysis and subsequent tissue acidosis in the realms of the Warburg effect may promote an immunosuppressive TME, causing a substantial barrier to the clinical efficacy of numerous immuno-oncologic treatments. Thus, imaging the varying individual compositions of the TME may provide a more accurate characterization of the individual tumor. This approach can help to identify the most suitable therapy for each individual patient and design new targeted treatment strategies that disable resistance mechanisms in liver cancer. This review article focuses on non-invasive positron-emission tomography (PET)- and MR-based imaging techniques that aim to visualize the crosstalk between tumor cells and their microenvironment in liver cancer mediated by tumor metabolism. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Imaging Cancer Metabolism)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop