Metabolomic Imaging for Cancer Detection

The field of metabolomics for cancer diagnosis and characterization is relatively new, and especially the application of metabolomics for in-vivo cancer imaging is still in its infancy. Cancer metabolomics involves the study of global variations of metabolites, with which malignancy conditions can be evaluated by profiling the entire measurable metabolome, instead of focusing only on certain metabolites or isolated metabolic pathways. At present, the study of cancer metabolomics is mainly accomplished utilizing magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and mass spectrometry (MS). These studies aim to uncover disease-specific metabolomic profiles in order to better understand variations in the involved pathways of cancer metabolism, and to utilize these profiles to establish metabolomic criteria for cancer detection, characterization, and patient prognostication and monitoring. The ultimate goal for cancer metabolomics is its implementation in the clinic to improve clinical abilities for cancer diagnosis and characterization, and through the development of in-vivo metabolomic imaging these clinical goals can be achieved noninvasively. Keywords: cancer; metabolomics; metabolomic imaging; magnetic resonance spectroscopy; mass spectrometry