Mass Spectrometry Imaging Applications for Advancement of Interventional Oncology

Interventional oncology procedures are commonly performed without a fundamental understanding of intratumoral mechanisms at the cellular and molecular levels. Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is a label-free multiomic imaging technique that is used to characterize drugs and their metabolites and/or the proteome, glycome, metabolome, and lipidome of cells. MSI has become a mainstay within the fields of pharmacology, oncology, and systems biology, allowing researchers to investigate mechanistic interactions and expression profiles of several classes of biomolecules concurrently with in situ visualization. Recent advancements in technical aspects of MSI have given it greater versatility to be used in combination with other spatial-omic techniques. When applied to interventional oncology as either a standalone or multimodal technology, MSI can provide unique intercellular and intracellular insight into treatment effectiveness and posttreatment tumor response. In this regard, MSI can aid in the optimization of interventional oncology procedures to improve clinical outcomes.