Yuen-Li Chung1, Helen Troy1,
Geoffrey S. Payne1,
1CR-UK and ESPRC Cancer Imaging Centre,
Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, Surrey, United Kingdom; 2Cancer
Research UK Cambridge Research Institute, Cambridge, United Kingdom; 3CR-UK
Centre for Cancer Therapeutics, Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, Surrey,
United Kingdom
Dichloroacetate
(DCA) is a pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase (PDK) inhibitor and is found to be
an anti-cancer agent. The aim of this
work was to develop a non-invasive and robust biomarker for tumour response
following PDK inhibition. In vivo and
in vitro 1H- and 31P-MRS of HT29 xenografts and tumour extracts were
used. DCA treatment caused tumour
growth inhibition and altered phospholipid metabolism and tumour
bioenergetics. The drop in total
choline and phosphomonoesters may have potential as non-invasive markers for
tumour response following treatment with DCA or other PDK inhibitors.