Magnetic resonance imaging for characterization of hepatocellular carcinoma metabolism

Lixia Wang; Ju Dong Yang; Charles C Yoo; Keane K Y Lai; Jonathan Braun; Dermot P B McGovern; Yibin Xie; Stephen J Pandol; Shelly C Lu; Debiao Li

doi:10.3389/fphys.2022.1056511

Magnetic resonance imaging for characterization of hepatocellular carcinoma metabolism

Front Physiol. 2022 Dec 15:13:1056511. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2022.1056511. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Lixia Wang¹, Ju Dong Yang^{2

3

4}, Charles C Yoo⁵, Keane K Y Lai⁶, Jonathan Braun⁷, Dermot P B McGovern⁷, Yibin Xie¹, Stephen J Pandol⁸, Shelly C Lu³, Debiao Li^{1

9}

Affiliations

¹ Biomedical Imaging Research Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
² Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
³ Karsh Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
⁴ Comprehensive Transplant Center, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
⁵ Office of the Medical Director 1st MRI, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
⁶ Department of Molecular Medicine, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope and City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, Duarte, CA, United States.
⁷ F. Widjaja Inflammatory Bowel Disease Institute, Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases, Department of Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
⁸ Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
⁹ Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States.

Abstract

With a better understanding of the pathophysiological and metabolic changes in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), multiparametric and novel functional magnetic resonance (MR) and positron emission tomography (PET) techniques have received wide interest and are increasingly being applied in preclinical and clinical research. These techniques not only allow for non-invasive detection of structural, functional, and metabolic changes in malignant tumor cells but also characterize the tumor microenvironment (TME) and the interactions of malignant tumor cells with the TME, which has hypoxia and low pH, resulting from the Warburg effect and accumulation of metabolites produced by tumor cells and other cellular components. The heterogeneity and complexity of the TME require a combination of images with various parameters and modalities to characterize tumors and guide therapy. This review focuses on the value of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging and PET/MR in evaluating the structural and functional changes of HCC and in detecting metabolites formed owing to HCC and the TME.

Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma; hypoxia; magnetic resonance imaging; metabolism; positron emission tomography/MR; tumor micro environment.

Publication types

Review