Cancer cells can induce phenotypic modifications at future sites of dissemination (pre-metastatic niches), which support tumor growth and metastasis. Here we evaluated whether diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) could detect mouse liver pre-metastatic niches (LPM) ex vivo using ultrahigh magnetic field MRI. Our results show that mean diffusivity (MD) and mean kurtosis (MK) can depict microstructural changes associated with LPM formation, consistent with a more fibrotic and cellular microenvironment revealed by histologic analysis of the same samples. These results represent a solid step toward the development of a non-invasive imaging tool for pre-metastatic niche diagnosis.
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