Praveen Kumar Gulaka1, Federico a
Rojas-Quijano2, Zoltan Kovacs2, Ralph P Mason1,3,
A. D. Sherry2,3, Vikram D. Kodibagkar1,3
1Joint graduate program in
Biomedical Engineering, UT Arlington & UT Southwestern Medical Center,
Hypoxic regions in tumors are known to affect radiation sensitivity and promote development of metastases. Therefore the ability to image the tumor hypoxia in vivo will provide useful prognostic information and help tailor therapy. Previous research demonstrated that 2-nitroimidazole accumulated in hypoxic tissues due to an enzyme mediated reduction of the nitro group in hypoxic conditions. In this work, we report both in vitro and in vivo evidence for accumulation of a T1 shortening agent, a GdDOTA monoamide conjugate of 2-nitroimidazole abbreviated as GdDO3NI, in hypoxic tumor tissue.