Abstract

Metabolic Imaging in Animal Models of Human Diseases

Philip Lee, Group Leader, Singapore Bioimaging Consortium

Biochemistry plays a critical role in sustaining life. Complex organic chemistry occurs at the nanometer scale within a cell, mediated by proteins with highly specific functions. In human diseases such as cancer and diabetes, alterations in these tightly regulated processes contribute to pathogenesis. Although blood biomarkers are routinely utilized in the clinic for disease diagnosis and monitoring, these indicators are typically not organ-specific and may not accurately reveal the metabolic aberrations. Positron emission tomography (PET) is the ubiquitous metabolic imaging modality available in major hospitals. It offers high specificity and sensitivity. However radiation concerns, the need for expensive cyclotrons and lack of FDA-approved probes limit its application and acceptance, particularly in longitudinal therapeutic monitoring. Hyperpolarized Carbon-13 MRI is a new and advanced technology that has been enabled for rapid metabolic imaging. It is a non-radioactive method and permits very short scan times of less than two minutes. First invented in 2003, there are now 16 clinical trials globally across the wide spectrum of human diseases from cancer to cardiovascular diseases. Here in Asia, Singapore is at the forefront of this technology and the Singapore Bioimaging Consortium has been developing its technology and expanding its applications to study human diseases in relevant animal models since 2010. In this talk we will present the applications of this new technology and highlight its clinical importance in the very near future.