Metabolism of Hyperpolarized 1, 4-13C2-Fumarate in Human Cancer Cell Lines

Anna Gisselsson¹, Magnus Kalsson¹, Pernille Rose Jensen¹, Ren in 't Zandt¹, Georg Hansson¹, Mathilde H. Lerche¹

Hyperpolarization of metabolic markers provides a powerful tool to study real time metabolism on a cellular level. To investigate if hyperpolarized fumarate can be used as a marker to study an altered metabolism in cancer, we studied the conversion of 1,4-13C2-fumarate into 1,4-13C2-malate in four human cancer cell lines; breast adenocarcinoma (MDA-MB-231), chondrosarcoma (H EMC-SS) and two prostate cancer lines (PC-3 and DU-145). Conversion of 1,4-13C2-fumarate to 1,4-13C2-malate could be seen in all four cancer lines investigated. The observed difference in conversion rate into 1,4-13C2-malate between cell lines of varying aggressiveness opens up for a potential new method to stage cancer.