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1H-MRS application in the evaluation of response to photo-thermal therapy using iron oxide-gold core-shell nanoparticles, an in vivo study

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Abstract

Background

Photo-thermal therapy (PTT) has been at the center of attention as a new method for cancer treatment in recent years. It is important to predict the response to treatment in the PTT procedure. Using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) can be considered a novel technique in evaluating changes in metabolites resulted from PTT.

Methods

In the present project, we conducted an in vivo study to assess the efficacy of 1H-MRS as a noninvasive technique to evaluate the response to treatment in the early hours following PTT. The BALB/c mice subcutaneously bearing tumor cells (CT26 cell line) were scanned by 1H-MRS before and after PTT. Iron oxide-gold core–shell (Fe3O4@Au) as PTT agent was injected into intra-peritoneal at first and then irradiated by NIR laser. Single-voxel Point RESolved Spectroscopy (PRESS) sequence (TE = 144) was used, and metabolites alternations were evaluated by the non-parametric Wilcoxon test. Besides, Nanoparticle (NP) relaxometry was conducted for negative contrast agents’ potentials.

Results

MRS choline (Cho) peak dramatically reduced 24 h post-PTT (p = 0.01) and lipid peak as a marker for necrosis of tumor elevated (p = 0.01) just in group 3 (NPs injection + laser irradiation) 24 h after the procedure.

Conclusion

1H-MRS showed its potential as a method in detecting the changes in metabolites and revealing the outcome accurately. Response to photo-thermal therapy evaluation was achievable only one day after PTT and proved by a 10-day follow-up of the tumor size. Iron oxide-gold core–shell can also be used as a negative contrast agent in MRI images during therapy.

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Acknowledgements

The present study was derived from an MSc thesis (Research project code: 981175) which has been supported by the Deputy of Research and Technology of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. Authors would like to acknowledge Iranian National Brain Mapping Laboratory (NBML), Tehran, Iran, for providing data acquisition service for this research work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Physics, Medicine Faculty, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

    Sina Ehsani & Erfan Saatchian

  2. Finetech in Medicine Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Abolfazl Sarikhani

  3. Medical Physics Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

    Alireza Montazerabadi

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  1. Sina Ehsani
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  2. Erfan Saatchian
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Correspondence to Alireza Montazerabadi.

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Ehsani, S., Saatchian, E., Sarikhani, A. et al. 1H-MRS application in the evaluation of response to photo-thermal therapy using iron oxide-gold core-shell nanoparticles, an in vivo study. Photochem Photobiol Sci 20, 245–254 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43630-021-00012-2

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