2H MR measurement of amino acid uptake in glioblastoma multiforme

Glioblastoma (GBM) brain tumors are among the most lethal of all human cancers, with a median survival of ~15 months. Standard-of-care radiologic methods fail to detect infiltrating GBM, which leads to undertreatment. We report a 2H MR method to better resolve/characterize GBM based on its enhanced uptake of branched-chain amino acids (e.g., leucine). We measure relaxation time constants for deuterated leucine in agarose phantoms and show the ability to detect d10-leucine at ~200 mM in a 4x4x4 mm3 voxel in phantoms. Finally, we demonstrated 2H MR measurement of enhanced deuterated leucine uptake in a rodent model of GBM.