Monitoring early glycolytic flux alterations following radiotherapy in cancer and immune cells: Hyperpolarized carbon-13 magnetic resonance imaging study

Alterations in metabolism following radiotherapy affect therapeutic efficacy, although the mechanism underlying such alterations is unclear. A new imaging technique—named dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) carbon-13 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)—probes the glycolytic flux in a real-time, dynamic manner. The [1-¹³ C]pyruvate is transported by the monocarboxylate transporter (MCT) into cells and converted into [1-¹³ C]lactate by lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). To capture the early glycolytic alterations in the irradiated cancer and immune cells, we designed a preliminary DNP¹³ C-MRI study by using hyperpolarized [1-¹³ C]pyruvate to study human FaDu squamous carcinoma cells, HMC3 microglial cells, and THP-1 monocytes before and after irradiation. The pyruvate-to-lactate conversion rate (k_PL [Pyr.]) calculated by kinetic modeling was used to evaluate the metabolic alterations. Western blotting was performed to assess the expressions of LDHA, LDHB, MCT1, and MCT4 proteins. Following irradiation, the pyruvate-to-lactate conversion rates on DNP¹³ C-MRI were significantly decreased in the FaDu and the HMC3 cells but increased in the THP-1 cells. Western blot analysis confirmed the similar trends in LDHA and LDHB expression levels. In conclusion, DNP¹³ C-MRI non-invasively captured the different glycolytic alterations among cancer and immune systems in response to irradiation, implying its potential for clinical use in the future.