Ilwoo Park1,
Llewellyn E. Jalbert1, Tomoko Ozawa2, C. David James2,
Joanna J. Phillips2, Daniel B. Vigneron1,3, Russell O.
Pieper2, Sabrina M. Ronen1, Sarah J. Nelson1,3
1Surbeck
Laboratory of Advanced Imaging, Department of Radiology & Biomedical
Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; 2Brain
Tumor Research Center, Department of Neurological Surgery, University of
California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; 3Department of
Bioengineering & Therapeutic Sciences, University of California, San
Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
We have demonstrated that hyperpolarized 13C MR metabolic imaging using [1-13C]-pyruvate can provide an early surrogate marker of MGMT activity and response to TMZ treatment. The inhibition of pyruvate metabolism in MGMT-deficient tumors was seen as early as day one after TMZ treatment, and occurred long before the delayed apoptotic response induced by TMZ. The results from this study suggest that this technique may allow neuro-oncologists to quickly evaluate patient response to TMZ and enable them to tailor customized therapies for individual patients with brain tumors.