Abstract #2331

Detection of Colonic Tumorigenesis In Vivo and Monitoring of Local Colonic Tumor Invasion and Metastasis in Mice Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Devkumar Mustafi¹, Urszula Dougherty², Alessandro Fichera², Reba Mustafi², Xiaobing Fan³, Gregory S. Karczmar³, Marta Zamora³, Marc Bissonnette²

¹Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA; ²Medicine, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA; ³Radiology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

The primary goal of this study was to develop a new, clinically applicable magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method for detecting early colonic cancer invasion and distant metastasis to liver and lungs. We have developed a novel mouse model of colon cancer metastasis using cecal implants of colon cancer cells. Based on our results with control and tumor-bearing immunotolerant Rag1 mice, we have demonstratedfor the first timethat in vivo anatomical and functional MRI studies, together with in vitro histological studies, offer the potential for detecting and monitoring early colonic cancer invasion and distant metastasis in a murine model.