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Abstract #0500

Diffusion-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Response to PI3-Kinase/mTOR Inhibition Studied in Human Ovarian Cancer Xenografts

Jana Cebulla1, Siver A. Moestue1, Else Marie Huuse1, Geir Bjrky2, Tone Frost Bathen1, Ingrid Susann Gribbestad1

1Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; 2Department of Technology, University College of Sr-Trndelag (HiST), Trondheim, Norway


The PI3-Kinase pathway is often upregulated in cancer cells and is therefore a promising target for anticancer therapy. This novel treatment strategy induces a need for biomarkers that can non-invasively and repeatedly assess therapy response. In this study we used diffusion weighted MRI to evaluate changes in the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) caused by PI3-kinase/mTOR inhibition in ovarian tumor xenografts. For responding tumors we found a significant increase in median ADC values and a decrease in kurtosis and skewness of ADC histograms, suggesting that these parameters are promising candidates for clinical biomarkers for PI3-Kinase/mTOR inhibition.