Devkumar Mustafi1, Urszula Dougherty2, Alessandro Fichera2, Reba Mustafi2, Xiaobing Fan3, Gregory S. Karczmar3, Marta Zamora3, Marc Bissonnette2
1Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA; 2Medicine, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA; 3Radiology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
The primary goal of this study was to develop a new, clinically applicable magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method for detecting early colonic cancer invasion and distant metastasis to liver and lungs. We have developed a novel mouse model of colon cancer metastasis using cecal implants of colon cancer cells. Based on our results with control and tumor-bearing immunotolerant Rag1 mice, we have demonstratedfor the first timethat in vivo anatomical and functional MRI studies, together with in vitro histological studies, offer the potential for detecting and monitoring early colonic cancer invasion and distant metastasis in a murine model.