In Vivo Fluorine Metabolic Imaging (FMI) of Cancer

Motivation: Instead of focusing on the heavily-studied glycolysis in cancer, novel imaging tools that report on unexplored metabolic pathways are in need to enrich oncologic molecular imaging. Goal(s): We developed Fluorine Metabolic Imaging (FMI), a novel MRI-based metabolic imaging platform, which utilizes 3FDGal to concurrently report and map sugar oxidation and reduction by cancer cells. Approach: We in vitro exposed different cell lines and in vivo exposed tumor model mice to 3FDGal, followed by 19F-NMR and MRI experiments. Results: FMI successfully differentiated cancer types based on their unique 3FDGal metabolic fingerprints, revealing distinct metabolic behaviors irrespective to glycolytic flux. Impact: FMI with 3FDGal as an 19F-MRI tracer represents a revolutionary shift in oncologic imaging. By concurrently mapping sugar oxidizing/reducing enzymes, tumor categorization becomes available at the molecular level, regardless of glycolysis-dependence, opening up new frontiers in cancer research and detection.