Periodic Reporting for period 1 - BodyDMI (Development of deuterium metabolic imaging to map body biochemistry with MRI)
Reporting period: 2019-06-01 to 2021-05-31
The global obesity epidemic has resulted in a dramatic rise in metabolic diseases and the development of effective therapies has greatly lagged behind. This could arguably be attributed to a lack of non-invasive (imaging) techniques to characterize disturbances in metabolic pathways. We will investigate the use of dynamic deuterium metabolic imaging (DMI) to dynamically map body biochemistry in humans in 3D imaging mode. DMI relies on deuterium magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging combined with oral administration of deuterium-labeled compounds.
The innovation idea is linked to the MCUBE project of FET-OPEN-01-2016-2017. Here a dual-dipole coil was designed for hydrogen MRI at 7 tesla (300 MHz), which outperformed the state-of-the-art setup of the loop-dipole coil for MRI. The new design is transparent to loop designs, meaning that the setup can be combined with loop coils, which are known to be the optimal setup for low frequency operation. So for DMI, which operates at 45.7 MHz (low frequency) at 7 tesla, an MRI coil array can be designed that not only outperforms MRI, but also enables DMI at uncompromised sensitivity within the same scan session, which will complement the utilization of the MCUBE project.
The objectives of the project are: (1) Build and test a body DMI setup for a clinical ultra-high field 7 tesla MRI scanner; (2) demonstrate proof of concept to measure hepatic carbohydrate and lipid metabolism with DMI; and (3) apply DMI in a clinical feasibility study in type 2 diabetes patients.
The innovation idea is linked to the MCUBE project of FET-OPEN-01-2016-2017. Here a dual-dipole coil was designed for hydrogen MRI at 7 tesla (300 MHz), which outperformed the state-of-the-art setup of the loop-dipole coil for MRI. The new design is transparent to loop designs, meaning that the setup can be combined with loop coils, which are known to be the optimal setup for low frequency operation. So for DMI, which operates at 45.7 MHz (low frequency) at 7 tesla, an MRI coil array can be designed that not only outperforms MRI, but also enables DMI at uncompromised sensitivity within the same scan session, which will complement the utilization of the MCUBE project.
The objectives of the project are: (1) Build and test a body DMI setup for a clinical ultra-high field 7 tesla MRI scanner; (2) demonstrate proof of concept to measure hepatic carbohydrate and lipid metabolism with DMI; and (3) apply DMI in a clinical feasibility study in type 2 diabetes patients.
We have successfully constructed a multi-channel body array coil for DMI and a preproduction model has been designed. The setup provided excellent sensitivity and good signal stability, allowing for dynamic measurements. We successfully showed the application of 3D DMI for dynamic and spatially-resolved monitoring of deuterated glucose uptake and metabolism throughout the human body. DMI will be valorized by the commercial partners and embedded in clinical practice. Besides its application in metabolic diseases, DMI has potential to detect for example effects of cancer treatment in a much earlier stage than morphological imaging. We have preparing clinical research studies on the application of DMI to assess therapy response in both diabetes and cancer.
As metabolic alterations precede any morphologic alterations during disease manifestation or during treatments, DMI will improve patient diagnostics (earlier recognition of disease) and improve treatment monitoring (i.e. ineffective treatments can be stopped much earlier and replaced by alternative treatments). Moreover, direct detection of metabolism will be beneficial for drug development, opening up a new area of research and development in drug discoveries.