About this Research Topic

Background

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the world. Early detection and treatment of cancer can improve survival. Diagnosis of cancer at later stages negatively impacts treatment and survival. Detecting cancer recurrences early may improve patient outcomes. New technologies and techniques are being developed to detect the changes that occur during carcinogenesis, metastasis, and disease recurrence to facilitate earlier detection. Carcinogenesis is the process of uncontrolled proliferation as a result of genetic, cellular, and environmental factors. Alterations in cell metabolism associated with cancer have been increasingly explored for imaging and therapeutic targeting. Thus, research interest in cancer metabolism has reemerged and grown.

Cancer cell metabolism adapts to support excessive proliferation in the originating tissue. It may undergo further alterations to support metastatic expansion. These changes mostly occur without detection. Noninvasive techniques to allow diagnosis and advance understanding of cancer biology have been a goal of medical imaging since the early twentieth century. With new developments in molecular imaging such as MRI/MRSI and PET these biochemical processes may be detected in vivo and targeted.

The goal of this Research Topic is to highlight the technological advances in the study of tumor metabolism with a special emphasis on imaging. Some of these technologies have yet to be tested rigorously and widely in a clinical setting. In addition, metabolic differences between tumors and healthy tissues have been exploited for diagnostic purposes and hold promise for targeted cancer treatments.

In this Research Topic, we’d like to highlight new developments used to study and target tumor metabolism including, but not limited to:

1. Mass spectrometry-based metabolomics
2. Conventional 1H and other nuclei magnetic resonance spectroscopy
3. Hyperpolarized magnetic resonance imaging
4. Positron emission tomography
5. Multimodal imaging studies
6. Model systems to study tumor metabolism
7. Imaging metabolic changes and immune response to therapy
8. Targeted therapies for metabolic pathways

Authors are invited to submit original research articles, reviews, and perspective articles focused on cancer cell metabolism, imaging of metabolic pathways, metabolic responses to therapy, and therapies targeting cancer metabolism.

Dr. Nataliya P. Buxbaum is lead inventor on the following patent: Buxbaum, N.P., et al. "Stable water isotope labeling and magnetic resonance imaging (swiMRI) for visualization of rapidly dividing cells” US 62/414,554 and PCT/US2017/058886, October 2016 and 2017, respectively (under review by the USPTO).

Manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics, computational analysis, or predictions of public databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) will not be accepted in any of the sections of Frontiers in Oncology

*Dr. Scroggins is serving in a personal capacity not in his official capacity with the NCI

Keywords: Tumor Metabolism, Cancer Imaging, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Positron Emission Tomography, Targeted Therapy

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