Tumour gene therapy monitoring using magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy

Recent progress in gene therapy has increased the need for non-invasive imaging methods that would allow early diagnosis of successful treatment. Magnetic resonance methods, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopy (MRS), have shown great promise to achieve this goal. The current mini-review describes recent advances in experimental MRI and MRS to detect individual treatment steps in gene therapy of tumours from gene transfection to therapy response. Limitations of the current techniques are also discussed.