GPC3-specific optical imaging enabled the detection of the GPC3+ HCC cells and noninvasive monitoring of tumor response to adoptive immunotherapy. The integrated development of a targeted therapeutic and molecular imaging probe provides a promising paradigm for the development of cancer theranostics. Habibollahi, Peiman, et al. Molecular cancer therapeutics 23.12 (2024): 1815-1826.

Functional genetic screening enables simultaneous selection of therapeutic targets and imaging probes. Schematic depicting metabolic pathways that can be analyzed with DNP-MRS probes. Purple nodes correspond to previously polarized probes. Pink nodes correspond to intermediates that have either been (i) directly visualized after injection of a DNP-MRS probe or (ii) precede a downstream intermediate that has been directly visualized. Yellow nodes correspond to metabolites that may serve as future molecular imaging probes. Dashed lines correspond to an enzyme or group of enzymes connecting DNP-MRS probes and/or intermediates. Colored semi-circles correspond to cancer types that may be imaged with a given DNP-MRS probe. Perkons et al., Clin, Can. Res. 2021.

DNP-MRSI enables the detection latent HCC cells surviving TAE in vivo. Whereas conventional imaging failed to detect viable tumor cells, DNP-MRSI of hyperpolarized 1-13C-pyruvic acid enabled the detection of persistent metabolism at the tumor periphery (green arrow) corresponding to regions of the tumor that appear nonviable (red arrow) on conventional MRI. Perkons et al., Hepatology 2020.