Hyperpolarized [1-13C] Pyruvate Metabolism in a Human Prostate Tissue Culture Bioreactor

David J. Joun¹, Mark Albers¹, Kayvan Keshari¹, Robert Bok¹, Christopher Ward, Donna Peehl², Sabrina Ronin, Daniel Vigneron, John Kurhanewicz

We demonstrate for the first time that the pathologic and metabolic integrity of benign and malignant human prostate tissues can be maintained in a NMR compatible 3-D tissue culture bioreactor for 32 hours. After administration of hyperpolarized [1-13C] pyruvate, the generation of labeled hyperpolarized lactate and LDH activity was significantly higher in malignant tissues (N=3) relative to benign human prostate tissues (N=3). Moreover, there was minimal overlap of the labeled hyperpolarized lactate signal between individual cancer and benign tissues suggesting that hyperpolarized lactate will be an accurate biomarker of prostate cancer in patients.