Is Higher Lactate Generation Rate an Indicator of Tumor Metastatic Risk?-A Pilot Study Using Hyperpolarized 13C-NMR

He N. Xu¹, Stephen J. Kadlececk¹, Harrilla Profka¹, Ben Pullinger¹, Jerry D. Glickson¹, Rahim Rizi¹, Lin Z. Li¹

Increased glycolysis resulting in higher lactate production (the Warburg effect) has been demonstrated in tumor tissues in numerous studies including some that employed hyperpolarized 13C-NMR. High levels of hyperpolarized lactate were correlated with high tumor grades. In this study we aim to investigate if the difference in levels of hyperpolarized lactate reflects differences in tumor growth rate or tumor metastatic risk. We examined two breast tumor mouse models, the less metastatic but faster growing (MCF-7) and the more metastatic but slower growing (MDA-MB-231) tumors and quantitatively compared their metabolism using the hyperpolarized 13C-1-pyruvate NMR technique.