Molecular MRI for sensitive and specific detection of lung metastases

Abstract

Early and specific detection of metastatic cancer cells in the lung (the most common organ targeted by metastases) could significantly improve cancer treatment outcomes. However, the most widespread lung imagingmethods use ionizing radiation and have low sensitivity and/or low specificity for cancer cells. Here we address this problem with an imaging method to detect submillimeter-sized metastases withmolecular specificity.Cancer cells are targetedbyironoxide nanoparticles functionalized with cancer-binding ligands, then imaged by high-resolution hyperpolarized 3He MRI. We demonstrate in vivo detection of pulmonary micrometastates in mice injected with breast adenocarcinoma cells. The method not only holds promise for cancer imaging but more generally suggests a fundamentally unique approach to molecular imaging in the lungs.