Marie-France Penet1, Samata Kakkad1, Arvind P. Pathak1, Venu Raman1, Meiyappan Solaiyappan1, Zaver M. Bhujwalla1
1JHU ICMIC Program, The Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
Prostate cancers growing orthotopically in the prostate result in metastasis to lymph nodes, lungs and liver, and malignant ascites. In contrast, identical xenografts growing heterotopically in the flank rarely result in metastasis. Here we used noninvasive MRI and optical microscopy to characterize interstitial fluid transport and the extracellular matrix in metastasis-permissive or preventive environments using human prostate cancer cells engineered to fluoresce under hypoxia. We observed significant differences in macromolecular transport and collagen I fiber morphology between tumors implanted orthotopically and subcutaneously. These insights may lead to strategies to prevent prostate cancer metastasis.
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