Yann Jamin1, Elizabeth R. Cullis2,
Lynsey Vaughan2, Hannah Webber2, Jessica K. R. Boult1,
Lauren C. Baker1, Dow-Mu Kow1, Louis Chesler2,
Simon P. Robinson1
1CRUK & EPSRC Cancer
Imaging Centre, The Institute of Cancer Research & Royal Marsden NHS
Trust, Sutton, United Kingdom; 2Paediatric Oncology, The Institute
of Cancer Research, Sutton, United Kingdom
In this study, we have challenged the TH-MYCN transgenic neuroblastoma murine model, which is a faithful representation of high-risk childhood neuroblastoma, with three different classes of anti-cancer agent: the conventional cytotoxic drugs cyclophosphamide (CPM) and methotrexate (MTX), the VEGF signalling inhibitor cediranib, and the tubulin-binding agent N-acetyl colchinol (ZD6126). We demonstrate a systematic reduction in T1 upon successful treatment and that the accurate quantification of T1 thus affords a generic, noninvasive and clinically translatable biomarker for chemotherapy-mediated cell death in the TH-MYCN neuroblastoma model.