Yetty Yennawati Irwan1,2, H. Michael Gach3, Yi Feng4, Gopalkrishna Veni3, Wolfram E. Samlowski1
1Melanoma, Nevada Cancer Institute, Las Vegas, NV, USA; 2Pathology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA; 3Research Imaging, Nevada Cancer Institute, Las Vegas, NV, USA; 4Drug Development, Nevada Cancer Institute, Las Vegas, NV, USA
Interleukin-2 (IL-2) therapy causes neuropsychiatric toxicity in cancer patients. The mechanism is currently not well understood. We developed an experimental protocol to evaluate changes in the brain vasculature of mice induced by IL-2 using DCE-MRI. Using a two-compartment model, we were able to show that IL-2 induced changes in the brain vasculature include vasodilation and fluid extravasation into the brain extravascular space. This model provides the opportunity to evaluate potential pharmacologic inhibitors of cytokine-induced neurologic toxicity.