We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress
Sign In
Advertise with Us
GLOBETECH PUBLISHING LLC

Download Mobile App




Imaging Toolkit Helps Identify Brain Tumor Drug Targets

By MedImaging International staff writers
Posted on 07 Feb 2016
Print article
Image: Correlated MR and UM stack 3 weeks after GL261 tumor implantation (Photo courtesy of eLife).
Image: Correlated MR and UM stack 3 weeks after GL261 tumor implantation (Photo courtesy of eLife).
A combined magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultramicroscopy (UM) toolkit could help study vessel growth as an aid in glioblastoma therapies, according to a new study.

Researchers at the University of Heidelberg, (Germany), University Medical Center Göttingen (Germany), and other institutions have developed a method to study neoangiogenesis in two glioma models that is based on in vivo MRI and correlative ex-vivo UM of cleared whole brains. The technique is based on T2*-weighted MRI—one of the basic pulse sequences in MRI—with high resolution to allow for substantially more detail than conventional imaging.

First, the researchers performed pre- and post-contrast MRI scans to define the growth of vessels during glioma development in two different mouse models. The researchers then mapped the development of the vessels by dual-color UM of the whole, cleared brains via fluorescent labelling, which helped resolve typical features of neoangiogenesis and tumor cell invasion with a spatial resolution of ~5 µm. The three dimensional (3D) MRI and complimentary UM data sets—dubbed MR-UM—were then compared side-by-side.

The researchers also used the toolkit to assess the effects of existing anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) treatments or radiation therapy on the vessel compartment within the two glioma models. They found that such treatments are insufficient to halt tumor growth in mice, which mirrors current human studies. According to the researchers, MR-UM could provide a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of existing treatment, and could help identify novel targets for future drug development. The study was published on February 3, 2016, in the journal eLife.

“Gliomas are highly malignant brain tumors with poor prognosis. Many efforts have been made to develop therapies against the growth of blood vessels and therefore 'starve' tumors of their resources, but they are not entirely effective,” said lead author Michael Breckwoldt, PhD, of the University of Heidelberg. “Improved imaging techniques that faithfully show the vessel architecture, including their growth, structure and density, and the effects of treatments in a noninvasive way are therefore needed to inform the development of future clinical trials.”

Neoangiogenesis is a pivotal therapeutic target in glioblastoma, since blood helps transport oxygen, nutrients, hormones, and waste products quickly and efficiently around the body. As tumors are made up of particularly active cells, their growth heavily depends on numerous blood vessels, in such that a fundamental hallmark of tumor progression is that nearby blood vessels form more quickly. Tumor blood vessels also differ in structure from their normal counterparts, for reasons that need to be investigated in more detail.

Related Links:

University of Heidelberg
University Medical Center Göttingen


Gold Member
Solid State Kv/Dose Multi-Sensor
AGMS-DM+
New
Brachytherapy Planning System
Oncentra Brachy
Mammography System
MAMMOVISTA B.smart
New
Oncology Information System
RayCare

Print article

Channels

Ultrasound

view channel
Image: Structure of the proposed transparent ultrasound transducer and its optical transmittance (Photo courtesy of POSTECH)

Ultrasensitive Broadband Transparent Ultrasound Transducer Enhances Medical Diagnosis

The ultrasound-photoacoustic dual-modal imaging system combines molecular imaging contrast with ultrasound imaging. It can display molecular and structural details inside the body in real time without... Read more

Nuclear Medicine

view channel
Image: PET/CT of a 60-year-old male patient with clinical suspicion of lung cancer (Photo courtesy of EJNMMI Physics)

Early 30-Minute Dynamic FDG-PET Acquisition Could Halve Lung Scan Times

F-18 FDG-PET scans are a way to look inside the body using a special dye, and these scans can be either static or dynamic. Static scans happen 60 minutes after the dye is administered into the body, showing... Read more

Imaging IT

view channel
Image: The new Medical Imaging Suite makes healthcare imaging data more accessible, interoperable and useful (Photo courtesy of Google Cloud)

New Google Cloud Medical Imaging Suite Makes Imaging Healthcare Data More Accessible

Medical imaging is a critical tool used to diagnose patients, and there are billions of medical images scanned globally each year. Imaging data accounts for about 90% of all healthcare data1 and, until... Read more

Industry News

view channel
Image: The acquisition will expand IBA’s medical imaging quality assurance offering (Photo courtesy of Radcal)

IBA Acquires Radcal to Expand Medical Imaging Quality Assurance Offering

Ion Beam Applications S.A. (IBA, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium), the global leader in particle accelerator technology and a world-leading provider of dosimetry and quality assurance (QA) solutions, has entered... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2024 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.