Kejia Cai1, He N. Xu2, Mohammad Haris1, Anup Singh1, Ravinder Reddy1, Lin Z. Li2
1CMROI, Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States; 2Dapartment of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Predicting breast tumor metastatic potential remains a challenge in cancer research and clinical practice. Previous studies indicate that tumor redox ratio heterogeneity (rim-core difference) serves as a biomarker of tumor metastatic potential. In this study, we demonstrated that CEST MRI showed tumor core-rim heterogeneity correlating with the mitochondrial redox state whereas T1 and T2 weighted MRI did not. CEST MRI of breast tumor metabolites (especially Glu) may be used as a potential non-invasive imaging biomarker of mitochondrial redox state for predicting breast cancer metastatic potential.