# Penn Quantitative MRI Resource for Pancreatic Cancer

> **NIH NIH U24** · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · 2021 · $607,181

## Abstract

Project Summary
Preclinical quantitative imaging (QI) and mouse tumor models bridge the gap between
the discovery of new therapeutic targets and the ultimate proof of their efficacy in cancer
patients. The Penn Quantitative MRI Resource for Pancreatic Cancer aims to
standardize quantitative imaging methods optimized for biologically relevant mouse
models to accelerate the development of novel therapies for pancreatic ductal
adenocarcinoma (PDA). PDA is featured by a dense stroma, which constitutes a unique
tumor microenvironment that resists drug penetration and is immune suppressive.
Successful stroma-directed interventions can be a vital part of effective PDA
management. Although several stroma-directed drugs are being examined in the clinic,
QI markers are not available for evaluating stroma responses in mice or patients. We
have identified translational motion sensitive MRI markers which can detect changes of
the tumor microenvironment, and we propose to examine their utility for stroma-directed
interventions. However the preclinical imaging techniques are suboptimal for studying
orthotopic tumors in locations susceptible to respiratory/cardiac motion such as the
pancreas. Importantly, the motion-robust imaging must be achieved simultaneously with
adequate temporal resolution required by the dynamic imaging protocol, the spatial
resolution required to resolve the small size targets. Our prior success in the
development and optimization of preclinical and clinical MRI methodology provides a
roadmap to accomplish the mission of optimizing the preclinical motion-sensitive MRI
techniques to match the advanced clinical benchmarks. Our Resource will leverage the
substantial institutional resources including the Mouse Hospital of PENN Pancreatic
Cancer Center, which provides the genetically engineered mouse (GEM) models of
PDA credentialed for studying stroma-directed interventions. The strong collaboration
with our industrial partner has led to the design of a co-clinical trial that includes a
prospective phase-II clinical trial and a preclinical trial, where the utility of QI markers
will be tested in both patients and mice responding to the same treatment of an
investigational stromal drug. A multi-expertise team and an Advisory committee will join
force to achieve the technical transformation, conduct the co-clinical trial and build the
Resource web-portal to disseminate all workflow documents, research tools and QA/QC
phantoms and to share the novel data content.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10240470
- **Project number:** 5U24CA231858-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Peter J ODwyer
- **Activity code:** U24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $607,181
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-14 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10240470

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10240470, Penn Quantitative MRI Resource for Pancreatic Cancer (5U24CA231858-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10240470. Licensed CC0.

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