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Metabolomic imaging of prostate cancer with magnetic resonance spectroscopy and mass spectrometry

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Abstract

Metabolomic imaging of prostate cancer (PCa) aims to improve in vivo imaging capability so that PCa tumors can be localized noninvasively to guide biopsy and evaluated for aggressiveness prior to prostatectomy, as well as to assess and monitor PCa growth in patients with asymptomatic PCa newly diagnosed by biopsy. Metabolomics studies global variations of metabolites with which malignancy conditions can be evaluated by profiling the entire measurable metabolome, instead of focusing only on certain metabolites or isolated metabolic pathways. At present, PCa metabolomics is mainly studied by magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and mass spectrometry (MS). With MRS imaging, the anatomic image, obtained from magnetic resonance imaging, is mapped with values of disease condition-specific metabolomic profiles calculated from MRS of each location. For example, imaging of removed whole prostates has demonstrated the ability of metabolomic profiles to differentiate cancerous foci from histologically benign regions. Additionally, MS metabolomic imaging of prostate biopsies has uncovered metabolomic expression patterns that could discriminate between PCa and benign tissue. Metabolomic imaging offers the potential to identify cancer lesions to guide prostate biopsy and evaluate PCa aggressiveness noninvasively in vivo, or ex vivo to increase the power of pathology analysis. Potentially, this imaging ability could be applied not only to PCa, but also to different tissues and organs to evaluate other human malignancies and metabolic diseases.

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Abbreviations

(C+C)/C:

Creatine and choline over citrate

GS:

Gleason score

HRMAS:

High-resolution magic angle spinning

M+SD:

Median plus standard deviation

Mip :

Malignancy index

MALDI:

Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization

MRS:

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy

MRSI:

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging

MS:

Mass spectrometry

NMR:

Nuclear magnetic resonance

PCa:

Prostate cancer

PSA:

Prostate-specific antigen

SNR:

Signal-to-noise ratio

T:

Tesla

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by PHS/NIH grants CA115746, CA162959, and CA141139 (LLC), and the MGH A.A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging.

Conflicts of interest

None.

Authors’ contributions

E.A.D.: literature research and manuscript preparation; E.M.S.: literature research and manuscript preparation; L.L.C.: providing funding, and manuscript preparation and review.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, CNY-6, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, Boston, MA, 02129, USA

    Eva-Margarete Spur, Emily A. Decelle & Leo L. Cheng

  2. Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Eva-Margarete Spur, Emily A. Decelle & Leo L. Cheng

  3. Charité Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany

    Eva-Margarete Spur

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  1. Eva-Margarete Spur
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  2. Emily A. Decelle
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  3. Leo L. Cheng
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Correspondence to Leo L. Cheng.

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Eva-Margarete Spur and Emily A. Decelle contributed equally to this work.

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Spur, EM., Decelle, E.A. & Cheng, L.L. Metabolomic imaging of prostate cancer with magnetic resonance spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 40 (Suppl 1), 60–71 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-013-2379-x

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