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Updated: Apr 4, 2026
Multianimal Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Tumor Measurements in Pancreatic Cancer Mouse Models
Published on: February 3, 2026
Minimally invasive in tumor multidrug comparative analysis with contrast-enhanced MRI in mice
William S Kerwin1, Ilona Tretyak1, Marc O Grenley1
1Presage Biosciences, Inc., Seattle, Washington, USA.
Purpose:
To facilitate decision making in the oncology clinic, technologies have recently been developed to independently inject and assess multiple anticancer agents directly in a patient's tumor. To increase the flexibility of this approach beyond histological readouts of response, contrast-enhanced MRI was evaluated for the detection of cell death in living tumors after injection.
Methods:
A six-needle arrayed microinjection device designed to provide head-to-head comparisons of chemotherapy responses in living tumors was used. Xenografted non-Hodgkin lymphoma tumors in athymic Nude-Foxn1(nu) mice were injected either with different doses of vincristine or with one needle each of vincristine, doxorubicin, bendamustine, prednisolone, mafosfamide, and a vehicle control. To assess drug responses, measurements of enhancement by T1-weighted contrast-enhanced MRI were made for individual sites at 24, 48, and 72 h after injection. For comparison, histological evaluations of cell death were obtained after tumor resection.
Results:
Measurements of MRI enhancement at injection sites showed a significant (P < 0.001) positive regression slope as a function of vincristine dose. Average MRI measurements were closely correlated with cell death by hematoxylin and eosin staining (R = 0.81; P = 0.001).
Conclusion:
Contrast-enhanced MRI has the potential to replace or augment histological analyses of tumor responses to microinjected doses of chemotherapy agents with potential application in selecting optimal chemotherapy regimens. Magn Reson Med 76:946-952, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Insights
Contrast-enhanced MRI can detect cell death in tumors after chemotherapy injection. This imaging technique shows promise for guiding cancer treatment decisions and potentially replacing traditional histology methods.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Medical Imaging
- Pharmacology
Background:
- Advanced technologies allow direct injection and assessment of anticancer agents in patient tumors.
- Histological analysis is the standard for evaluating tumor response to chemotherapy.
- There is a need for more flexible and real-time methods to assess drug efficacy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate contrast-enhanced MRI for detecting cell death in living tumors after microinjection of anticancer agents.
- To assess the potential of MRI to complement or replace histological readouts of chemotherapy response.
Main Methods:
- A six-needle microinjection device was used to administer vincristine or multiple chemotherapy agents to xenografted non-Hodgkin lymphoma tumors in mice.
- T1-weighted contrast-enhanced MRI was performed at 24, 48, and 72 hours post-injection to measure tumor enhancement.
- Histological evaluation of cell death using hematoxylin and eosin staining was conducted for comparison.
Main Results:
- MRI enhancement measurements showed a significant positive correlation with increasing doses of vincristine.
- Average MRI measurements strongly correlated with histological assessments of cell death (R=0.81, P=0.001).
Conclusions:
- Contrast-enhanced MRI can effectively detect and quantify tumor response to microinjected chemotherapy agents.
- MRI offers a potential non-invasive method to augment or replace histological analysis for evaluating chemotherapy efficacy.
- This approach may aid in selecting optimal chemotherapy regimens for cancer patients.
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