Year: 2017
Type: article
Abstract: Iron-deposition is a metabolic biomarker of macrophages in both normal and pathological situations, but the presence of iron in tumor and metastasis-associated macrophages is not known. Here we mapped and quantified hemosiderin-laden macrophage (HLM) deposits in murine models of metastatic breast cancer using iron and macrophage histology, and in vivo MRI. Iron MRI detected high-iron pixel clusters in mammary tumors, lung metastasis, and brain metastasis as well as liver and spleen tissue known to contain the HLMs. Iron histology showed these regions to contain clustered macrophages identified by their common iron status and tissue-intrinsic association with other phenotypic macrophage markers. The in vivo MRI and ex vivo histological images were further processed to determine the frequencies and sizes of the iron deposits, and measure the number of HLMs in each deposit to estimate the in vivo MRI sensitivity for these cells. Hemosiderin accumulation is a macrophage biomarker and intrinsic contrast source for cellular MRI associated with the innate function of macrophages in iron metabolism systemically, and in metastatic cancer.
Source: PLoS ONE
Language: English
Topic: Immune cells in cancer
Subfield: Immunology
Field: Immunology and Microbiology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,382
Awards: G2051006376, G289723095, G3076891256, G3978591521, G3994034673, G4439537580, G5159671620, G5785365039, G613936551, G6366438326, G6393038893, Innate Metabolic MRI of Macrophage Infiltration in Prostate Cancer, G7315916971, Tumor Hypoxia Imaging - Laboratory and Clinical Studies, G782458776, G8183638657, G8475605158, G9000003249, G9000225991, G9000246261, G9000282758, Cancer Center Support Grant
OpenAlex ID: W2754224034