Kayvan R. Keshari1, Victor Sai1, Kristen Scott1, John Kurhanewicz1, Henry F. VanBrocklin1, David M. Wilson1
1Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, CA, United States
We have developed a new in vivo redox sensor, hyperpolarized [1-13C] dehydroascorbate (DHA), the oxidized form of Vitamin C. This probe is rapidly taken into the cell via glucose (GLUT) transporters and then reduced to ascorbate (VitC), to a greater extent in transgenic prostate (TRAMP) tumor than the normal gland. Since [1-13C] DHA has an essentially identical transport mechanism to 2-18F-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG), we speculated the two techniques might have significant overlap. DHA-MR and FDG-PET studies were performed in a cohort of TRAMP mice at identical time points revealing similar ability to distinguish between tumor and surrounding benign tissue.