Kannie Wai Yan Chan1,
Michael C. McMahon2, Guanshu Liu3, Yoshinori Kato,
Zaver Bhujwalla, Dmitri Artemov, Peter Christiaan van Zijl1,3
1Radiology, Johns
Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; 2F.M.
Kirby Research Center, Kennedy Krieger Research Insitute, Baltimore, MD, USA;
3kennedy Krieger Research Insitute
PET studies of 18-fluorodeoxyglucose (18FDG) uptake can detect abnormal glucose uptake in tumors, which is an important biomarker for staging of cancer and assessing the efficacy of therapies. Using xenografts of a highly aggressive and metastatic human breast cancer cell line (MDA-MB-231) in mice, we show that glucose uptake can be imaged using non-labeled D-glucose intra-venous infusion through detection with chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST). Magnetization transfer ratio asymmetry spectra showed a typical glucose line shape appearance. Glucose uptake reflects the combined effects of perfusion, leakage into extravascular extracellular space (EES), and metabolism.