Imaging cancer metabolism using magnetic resonance
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Abstract The challenge in clinical oncology is to select the most appropriate treatment for an individual patient. Transcriptome and metabolite profiling have revealed that tumours can display metabolic subtypes with different therapeutic vulnerabilities 1–4 . Metabolic imaging has the potential to distinguish these subtypes and therefore those treatment(s) that should be most effective. Moreover, since changes in tumour metabolism can occur early during treatment, metabolic imaging can also be used subsequently to detect early evidence of treatment response. In this Perspective I briefly review and discuss the relative advantages and disadvantages of magnetic resonance imaging of tumour metabolism using hyperpolarized 13 C- and 2 H-labelled substrates.
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Additional imaging methods based on increased glucose uptake or lactate production have been used or are being developed.
“Other imaging modalities based on increased glucose uptake such as using [1–13C] glucose or [6,6-2H2]glucose magnetic resonance spectroscopy, or using tracers based on other indicators of glycolysis such as increased lactate production have also been utilized or are currently under development [53, 54].”
From The HIF Axes in Cancer - Angiogenesis, Metabolism and Immune-Modulation (2025) · cites this paper as [54]
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The HIF Axes in Cancer - Angiogenesis, Metabolism and Immune-Modulation
Acuña-Pilarte, K., & Koh, M. Y. (2025) · Trends in Biochemical Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tibs.2025.06.005 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
- Authors
- Brindle, K. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Brindle, Kevin M.
- ORCID
- Brindle, Kevin M.
- Venue
- npj Imaging
- Published
- 2024-01-11
- Volume
- 2
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1-1
- ISSN
- 2948-197X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC12118679
- OpenAlex
- W4390749358
- Cited by
- 22
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 1
- FWCI
- 0.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- npj Imaging (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Apollo (University of Cambridge) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Cancer Research UK (C197/A29580, C197/A17242, C9685/A2517)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Spectroscopy › Advanced NMR Techniques and Applications
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cancer Research › Cancer, Hypoxia, and Metabolism
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Metabolomics and Mass Spectrometry Studies
- Keywords
- cancer metabolism, metabolic imaging, magnetic resonance imaging, treatment response monitoring
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