Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Imaging Breast Cancer Progression And Lymph Node Metastases In Murine Models Using Mri And Magnetic Nanoparticles, Vasiliki Economopoulos

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Most breast cancer related deaths are caused by the spread or metastasis of the primary tumor to distant sites in the body. The lymph nodes are one of the first places where metastases can be detected and are frequently examined for macroscopic metastases to help determine course of treatment for patients. However, little is known about the significance of microscopic metastases and disseminated individual cancer cells within the nodes. The goal of this work was to use MRI to monitor the development of primary tumors and lymphatic metastases in models of breast cancer.

In this thesis, we examined the MRI …

Magnetic Resonance Imaging Of A Natural Killer Cell Therapy In A Mouse Model Of Prostate Cancer, Christiane L. Mallett

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Purpose: This thesis uses magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques to study natural killer (NK) cell therapy in a nude mouse model of prostate cancer. Cellular MRI, anatomical MRI and hyperpolarized ¹³C spectroscopy were used to study various aspects of the model. Methods: The cells used were KHYG-1 NK cells and PC-3M prostate cancer cells. Imaging was performed on a clinical 3T GE MR 750 scanner, using a high-performance gradient insert for acquisition with the balanced steady state free precession (bSSFP) sequence, and using the built-in gradients for ¹³C pyruvate spectroscopy. Pyruvate was hyperpolarized by dynamic nuclear polarization. Results: …