Ting He1, Nataliya Smith1, Debra
Saunders1, Robert Silasi-Mansat2, Florea Lupu2,
Megan Lerner3, Rheal Towner1
1Advanced Magnetic
Resonance Center, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, OK,
United States; 2Cardiovascular Biology, Oklahoma Medical Research
Foundation, Oklahoma City, OK, United States; 3Surgery, University
of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, United States
Angiogenesis is essential to tumor progression and the precise imaging of angiogenic marker of Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) would provide accurate evaluation for angiogenesis. This study is to characterize varied angiogenesis status in C6 and RG2 glioma models by assessing expression of VEGFR2 using molecular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with an anti-VEGFR2-albumin-Gadolinium (Gd)-DTPA-biotin probe. The results showed that VEGFR2 expressed heterogeneously in different regions in C6 gliomas, whereas was more relatively homogenous in RG2 gliomas. In conclusion, the expression pattern of VEGFR2 using molecular MRI can be used as an accurate marker to evaluate active tumor-associated angiogenesis.