Xiaolei Song1, 2, Raag Airan1, 2, Dian R. Arifin1, 2, Segun Bernard1, 2, Assaf A. Gilad1, 2, Peter C.M. van Zijl1, 3, Michael T. Mcmahon1, 3, Jeff W.M. Bulte1, 2
1Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States; 2Cellular Imaging Section, Institute for Cell Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States; 3F.M.Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute , Baltimore, MD, United States
Mucin-1, a large cell surface marker of epithelial cell lines, is found in underglycosylated form (uMUC-1) in almost all human epithelial cell adenocarcinomas and non-epithelial cancers, and is one of the early hallmarks of tumorigenesis. We used chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) MRI to specifically detect uMUC-1 expressing cells. Encapsulated cells and in vivo mouse tumor models of two cancer cell lines, LS174T (uMUC-1+) and U87 (uMUC-1-) show that uMUC-1-expressing cells display differential CEST contrast. This glycosyl (OH)-related CEST MRI may be potentially used for non-invasive phenotyping of tumors based on uMUC-1 expression.