Martin Wilson1,2, Georgia Kapatai1,
Risto A. Kauppinen3, Theodoros N. Arvanitis2,4, Carmel
McConville1, Andrew C. Peet1,2
1Cancer Sciences,
University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom; 2Birmingham
Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, United Kingdom; 3Department
of Radiology, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, United States; 4School
of Electronic, Electrical & Computer Enineering, University of Birmingham,
Birmingham, United Kingdom
In this study 1H high-resolution magic angle spinning NMR (HR-MAS) was performed on 12 intact retinoblastoma tumour samples to improve understanding of the molecular pathways important in this disease. A high level of taurine was evident from all spectra indicating that this metabolite may be a useful marker of primative neuroectodurmal tumours. In addition, some correlation with gene-expression profiles and molecular genetics was observed, indicating that further work in this area is warranted.