Abstract #0890

Using MagA and Modified Ferritin Subunits to Track Tumor Cell Growth

Donna E. Goldhawk¹, Rene Figueredo², Claude Lemaire³, Paula Foster⁴, Savita Dhanvantari⁵, Jim Koropatnick², R Terry Thompson¹, Frank S. Prato¹

¹Imaging, Lawson Health Research Institute, London, ON, Canada; ²London Regional Cancer Program, London, ON, Canada; ³Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada; ⁴Imaging, Robarts Research Insitute, London, ON, Canada; ⁵Diabetes and Metabolism, Lawson Health Research Institute, London, ON, Canada

We have investigated the application of gene-based contrast from overexpression of iron binding proteins, in tracking cancer cell growth using MRI. Here we compare expression of modified ferritin subunits (HF+LF), lacking iron response elements (1), with that of MagA, an iron transporter from magnetotactic bacteria (2), in a preclinical model of human cancer. These studies describe the relative potential of engineered tumor cells to differentiate in vivo and provide suitable contrast for MRI.