Renuka Sriram1, Kayvan R. Keshari1, Bertram Koelsch1, Mark Van Criekinge1, John Kurhanewicz1, Zhen Jane Wang1
1Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
Cancer cell metabolism is characterized by increased glucose uptake and lactate production eunder aerobic conditions. This phenomenon has been exploited to differentiate between tumor grades, using hyperpolarized (HP) [1-13C] pyruvate. The flux of pyruvate to lactate through the lactate dehydrogenase enzyme (LDH) is a function of the monocarboxylate transporters, cofators and enzyme expression and activity. In an effort to understand these factors that contribute to the HP Pyruvate/Lactate kinetics, aggressive human RCCs UMRC6 (localized) and UOK262 (metastatic) are characterized using HP 13C MR, thermal labeling with [3-13C] pyruvate and subsequent comparison to the expression of relevant transporters and LDH.