Evaluation of pancreatic tumor development in KPC mice using multi-parametric MRI

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Imaging
• Oncology
• Translational Research

Background:

• Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is a lethal cancer with limited treatment options.
• Sensitive, noninvasive methods for monitoring PDA tumor progression are critically needed.
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offers potential for assessing tumor pathophysiology.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate multi-parametric MRI (mp-MRI) for monitoring tumor progression in a KPC mouse model of PDA.
• To correlate MRI-derived parameters with tumor volume and fibrotic tissue accumulation.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a genetically engineered KPC mouse model of pancreatic cancer.
• Acquired mp-MRI data including T1/T2 relaxation times, MTR, and CEST during slow and rapid tumor growth phases.
• Assessed fibrosis histologically and correlated MR parameters with tumor volume and fibrosis using Pearson correlation.

Main Results:

• Amide proton transfer signal intensity negatively correlated with tumor volume during slow growth (r=-0.63).
• Magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) strongly correlated with tumor volume during rapid growth (r=0.62).
• MTR showed a significant positive correlation with % fibrosis (r=0.87), while T1 and T2 showed moderate negative correlations.

Conclusions:

• mp-MRI parameters dynamically change with tumor progression in a PDA mouse model.
• mp-MRI demonstrates potential for noninvasively monitoring tumor microenvironment changes in PDA.
• This approach may aid in tracking disease progression in transgenic KPC mouse models.