# Multi-Site Development & Evaluation of a Quantitative 3D Hyperpolarized C-13 MRI Clinical Prostate Cancer Exam

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF TX MD ANDERSON CAN CTR · 2020 · $650,405

## Abstract

Project Summary
Current methods for assessing prostate cancer, the second most common cause of cancer death in men,
do not adequately distinguish between aggressive and indolent disease. Over- or under-treatment
due to suboptimal diagnostics can lead to unnecessary loss of life or devastating decline in quality of
life. New methods that better assess disease aggressiveness could substantially reduce long-term costs
and improve the quality of life of men affected by prostate cancer. Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) of
[1-13C]-pyruvate provides a greater than 10,000-fold increase in sensitivity to readout by magnetic
resonance, allowing insight into biochemical processes in vivo with unprecedented spatiotemporal resolution.
Pyruvate lies at a branching point in metabolism that is affected by many cancers: the chemical conversion
of pyruvate to lactate is often upregulated by cancer, even under normoxic conditions. HP pyruvate is
converted into HP lactate by enzymes that have been shown to correlate with disease aggressiveness. Thus,
metabolic MR imaging of HP pyruvate and lactate provides an unprecedented new window of
opportunity for minimally invasive diagnostic assessment of disease and aggressiveness. A recent
Phase I clinical trial conducted by colleagues at the University of California in San Francisco demonstrated
the safety and feasibility of HP pyruvate for assessing patients with prostate cancer. The imaging
methods that were used in the feasibility trial demonstrated successful visualization of disease, but
provided limited spatial coverage and spatiotemporal resolution. Our goal is to develop and translate new
acquisition and analysis strategies for HP 13C MR metabolic imaging that provide the necessary coverage
and resolution to enable robust clinical assessment of prostate cancer patients at multiple institutions.
This partnership between MD Anderson Cancer Center and UCSF leverages expertise at both institutions
to develop and translate new imaging techniques to address currently unmet clinical needs in the
management of prostate cancer. The work will be carried out in three Aims. First, we will develop new
accelerated dynamic 3D imaging methods that support <0.5cm3 image resolution throughout the gland, along
with a new class of dynamic multispectral imaging phantoms to characterize and validate the
performance of imaging sequences. In the second Aim, we will refine and integrate pharmacokinetic
(PK) analysis algorithms for quantitative assessment of kPL, the imaging biomarker for tumor
metabolism, and leverage PK models to further improve the spatiotemporal resolution of HP 13C prostate
cancer exams by constrained image reconstruction. In the final Aim, we will assess sensitivity, specificity,
and reproducibility of these measurements using a test-retest paradigm and by comparison of
imaging with gold-standard histopathology. By the end of this project, we will have implemented
robust new imaging methods, and conducted first-ever...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9878790
- **Project number:** 5R01CA211150-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TX MD ANDERSON CAN CTR
- **Principal Investigator:** James A Bankson
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $650,405
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-03-01 → 2022-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9878790

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9878790, Multi-Site Development & Evaluation of a Quantitative 3D Hyperpolarized C-13 MRI Clinical Prostate Cancer Exam (5R01CA211150-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9878790. Licensed CC0.

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