Astrocytomas are tumors that come from astrocytes, known as star-shaped cells that make up the “glue-like” or supportive tissue of the brain, and they can appear in various parts of the brain and nervous system. The alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) pathway is used by some cancers, including astrocytomas, to prevent the telomere shortening that accompanies tumor proliferation.
Recently, investigators from the Cancer Metabolic Imaging and Therapy Lab at the UC San Francisco Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging teamed up with the Department of Neurosurgery to identify metabolic alterations linked to this ALT pathway that can be exploited for non-invasive deuterium magnetic resonance spectroscopy (2H-MRS)-based imaging of astrocytomas in vivo. Their findings were published in Neuro-Oncology, the journal for the Society for Neuro-Oncology.
“Our study was…
