Imaging cancer metabolism using magnetic resonance

The challenge in clinical oncology is to select the most appropriate treatment for an individual patient. Transcriptome and metabolite profiling have revealed that tumours can display metabolic subtypes with different therapeutic vulnerabilities1–4. Metabolic imaging has the potential to distinguish these subtypes and therefore those treatment(s) that should be most effective. Moreover, since changes in tumour metabolism can occur early during treatment, metabolic imaging can also be used subsequently to detect early evidence of treatment response. In this Perspective I briefly review and discuss the relative advantages and disadvantages of magnetic resonance imaging of tumour metabolism using hyperpolarized 13C- and 2H-labelled substrates.