Abstract #1266
Choline kinase suppression increases tumor lipid content and vascular volume in a human breast cancer model
Glunde K, Artemov D, Raman V, Bhujwalla Z
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Increased choline kinase (Chk) expression is a primary cause of elevated phosphocholine (PC) and total choline (tCho) levels in breast cancers. Chk suppression in breast tumors is currently being explored as potential therapeutic strategy. We have characterized, for the first time, the effect of suppressing Chk on tumor lipid/lactate content and vascularization in tumor xenografts from human MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells stably expressing small interfering RNA against Chk (siRNA-chk). Multiparametric co-localized maps of vascular volume, permeability, and total choline and lipid were obtained with 1H MRI/MRSI. Both the lipid signal and vascular volume were significantly higher in Chk-suppressed breast tumors compared to controls.
