Deuterium metabolic imaging phenotypes mouse glioblastoma heterogeneity through glucose turnover kinetics

Glioblastomas are aggressive brain tumors with dismal prognosis. One of the main bottlenecks for developing more effective therapies for glioblastoma stems from their histologic and molecular heterogeneity, leading to distinct tumor microenvironments and disease phenotypes. Effectively characterizin...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Rui Vasco Simoes, Rafael Neto Henriques, Jonas L Olesen, Beatriz M Cardoso, Francisca F Fernandes, Mariana AV Monteiro, Sune N Jespersen, Tânia Carvalho, Noam Shemesh
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: eLife Sciences Publications Ltd 2025-03-01
Series:eLife
Subjects:
Online Access:https://elifesciences.org/articles/100570
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850235218130108416
author Rui Vasco Simoes
Rafael Neto Henriques
Jonas L Olesen
Beatriz M Cardoso
Francisca F Fernandes
Mariana AV Monteiro
Sune N Jespersen
Tânia Carvalho
Noam Shemesh
author_facet Rui Vasco Simoes
Rafael Neto Henriques
Jonas L Olesen
Beatriz M Cardoso
Francisca F Fernandes
Mariana AV Monteiro
Sune N Jespersen
Tânia Carvalho
Noam Shemesh
author_sort Rui Vasco Simoes
collection DOAJ
description Glioblastomas are aggressive brain tumors with dismal prognosis. One of the main bottlenecks for developing more effective therapies for glioblastoma stems from their histologic and molecular heterogeneity, leading to distinct tumor microenvironments and disease phenotypes. Effectively characterizing these features would improve the clinical management of glioblastoma. Glucose flux rates through glycolysis and mitochondrial oxidation have been recently shown to quantitatively depict glioblastoma proliferation in mouse models (GL261 and CT2A tumors) using dynamic glucose-enhanced (DGE) deuterium spectroscopy. However, the spatial features of tumor microenvironment phenotypes remain hitherto unresolved. Here, we develop a DGE Deuterium Metabolic Imaging (DMI) approach for profiling tumor microenvironments through glucose conversion kinetics. Using a multimodal combination of tumor mouse models, novel strategies for spectroscopic imaging and noise attenuation, and histopathological correlations, we show that tumor lactate turnover mirrors phenotype differences between GL261 and CT2A mouse glioblastoma, whereas recycling of the peritumoral glutamate-glutamine pool is a potential marker of invasion capacity in pooled cohorts, linked to secondary brain lesions. These findings were validated by histopathological characterization of each tumor, including cell density and proliferation, peritumoral invasion and distant migration, and immune cell infiltration. Our study bodes well for precision neuro-oncology, highlighting the importance of mapping glucose flux rates to better understand the metabolic heterogeneity of glioblastoma and its links to disease phenotypes.
format Article
id doaj-art-04fbf5874a9e4df8b0232dfd8ab8ca1f
institution OA Journals
issn 2050-084X
language English
publishDate 2025-03-01
publisher eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
record_format Article
series eLife
spelling doaj-art-04fbf5874a9e4df8b0232dfd8ab8ca1f2025-08-20T02:02:20ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2025-03-011310.7554/eLife.100570Deuterium metabolic imaging phenotypes mouse glioblastoma heterogeneity through glucose turnover kineticsRui Vasco Simoes0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7574-4723Rafael Neto Henriques1Jonas L Olesen2Beatriz M Cardoso3Francisca F Fernandes4Mariana AV Monteiro5Sune N Jespersen6Tânia Carvalho7Noam Shemesh8https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6681-5876Preclinical MRI, Champalimaud Research, Champalimaud Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal; Neuroengineering and Computational Neuroscience, Institute for Research and Innovation in Health (i3S), Porto, PortugalPreclinical MRI, Champalimaud Research, Champalimaud Foundation, Lisbon, PortugalCenter of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience (CFIN) and MINDLab, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Aarhus, DenmarkPreclinical MRI, Champalimaud Research, Champalimaud Foundation, Lisbon, PortugalPreclinical MRI, Champalimaud Research, Champalimaud Foundation, Lisbon, PortugalHistopathology Platform, Champalimaud Research, Champalimaud Foundation, Lisbon, PortugalCenter of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience (CFIN) and MINDLab, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Aarhus, DenmarkHistopathology Platform, Champalimaud Research, Champalimaud Foundation, Lisbon, PortugalPreclinical MRI, Champalimaud Research, Champalimaud Foundation, Lisbon, PortugalGlioblastomas are aggressive brain tumors with dismal prognosis. One of the main bottlenecks for developing more effective therapies for glioblastoma stems from their histologic and molecular heterogeneity, leading to distinct tumor microenvironments and disease phenotypes. Effectively characterizing these features would improve the clinical management of glioblastoma. Glucose flux rates through glycolysis and mitochondrial oxidation have been recently shown to quantitatively depict glioblastoma proliferation in mouse models (GL261 and CT2A tumors) using dynamic glucose-enhanced (DGE) deuterium spectroscopy. However, the spatial features of tumor microenvironment phenotypes remain hitherto unresolved. Here, we develop a DGE Deuterium Metabolic Imaging (DMI) approach for profiling tumor microenvironments through glucose conversion kinetics. Using a multimodal combination of tumor mouse models, novel strategies for spectroscopic imaging and noise attenuation, and histopathological correlations, we show that tumor lactate turnover mirrors phenotype differences between GL261 and CT2A mouse glioblastoma, whereas recycling of the peritumoral glutamate-glutamine pool is a potential marker of invasion capacity in pooled cohorts, linked to secondary brain lesions. These findings were validated by histopathological characterization of each tumor, including cell density and proliferation, peritumoral invasion and distant migration, and immune cell infiltration. Our study bodes well for precision neuro-oncology, highlighting the importance of mapping glucose flux rates to better understand the metabolic heterogeneity of glioblastoma and its links to disease phenotypes.https://elifesciences.org/articles/100570deuterium metabolic imagingglioblastomaglycolysiskinetic modelingmitochondrial metabolism
spellingShingle Rui Vasco Simoes
Rafael Neto Henriques
Jonas L Olesen
Beatriz M Cardoso
Francisca F Fernandes
Mariana AV Monteiro
Sune N Jespersen
Tânia Carvalho
Noam Shemesh
Deuterium metabolic imaging phenotypes mouse glioblastoma heterogeneity through glucose turnover kinetics
eLife
deuterium metabolic imaging
glioblastoma
glycolysis
kinetic modeling
mitochondrial metabolism
title Deuterium metabolic imaging phenotypes mouse glioblastoma heterogeneity through glucose turnover kinetics
title_full Deuterium metabolic imaging phenotypes mouse glioblastoma heterogeneity through glucose turnover kinetics
title_fullStr Deuterium metabolic imaging phenotypes mouse glioblastoma heterogeneity through glucose turnover kinetics
title_full_unstemmed Deuterium metabolic imaging phenotypes mouse glioblastoma heterogeneity through glucose turnover kinetics
title_short Deuterium metabolic imaging phenotypes mouse glioblastoma heterogeneity through glucose turnover kinetics
title_sort deuterium metabolic imaging phenotypes mouse glioblastoma heterogeneity through glucose turnover kinetics
topic deuterium metabolic imaging
glioblastoma
glycolysis
kinetic modeling
mitochondrial metabolism
url https://elifesciences.org/articles/100570
work_keys_str_mv AT ruivascosimoes deuteriummetabolicimagingphenotypesmouseglioblastomaheterogeneitythroughglucoseturnoverkinetics
AT rafaelnetohenriques deuteriummetabolicimagingphenotypesmouseglioblastomaheterogeneitythroughglucoseturnoverkinetics
AT jonaslolesen deuteriummetabolicimagingphenotypesmouseglioblastomaheterogeneitythroughglucoseturnoverkinetics
AT beatrizmcardoso deuteriummetabolicimagingphenotypesmouseglioblastomaheterogeneitythroughglucoseturnoverkinetics
AT franciscaffernandes deuteriummetabolicimagingphenotypesmouseglioblastomaheterogeneitythroughglucoseturnoverkinetics
AT marianaavmonteiro deuteriummetabolicimagingphenotypesmouseglioblastomaheterogeneitythroughglucoseturnoverkinetics
AT sunenjespersen deuteriummetabolicimagingphenotypesmouseglioblastomaheterogeneitythroughglucoseturnoverkinetics
AT taniacarvalho deuteriummetabolicimagingphenotypesmouseglioblastomaheterogeneitythroughglucoseturnoverkinetics
AT noamshemesh deuteriummetabolicimagingphenotypesmouseglioblastomaheterogeneitythroughglucoseturnoverkinetics