UCSF

Although lower grade gliomas are driven by mutations in the isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) gene and are less aggressive than primary glioblastoma, they nonetheless generally recur. IDH1-mutant patients are increasingly being treated with temozolomide, but early detection of response remains a challenge and there is a need for complementary imaging methods to assess response to therapy prior to tumor shrinkage. The goal of this study was to determine the value of magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS)-based metabolic changes for detection of response to temozolomide in both genetically engineered and patient-derived mutant IDH1 models. Using ¹H MRS in combination with chemometrics identified several metabolic alterations in temozolomide-treated cells, including a significant increase in steady-state glutamate levels. This was confirmed in vivo, where the observed ¹H MRS increase in glutamate/glutamine occurred prior to tumor shrinkage. Cells labeled with [1-¹³C]glucose and [3-¹³C]glutamine, the principal sources of cellular glutamate, showed that flux to glutamate both from glucose via the tricarboxylic acid cycle and from glutamine were increased following temozolomide treatment. In line with these results, hyperpolarized [5-¹³C]glutamate produced from [2-¹³C]pyruvate and hyperpolarized [1-¹³C]glutamate produced from [1-¹³C]α-ketoglutarate were significantly higher in temozolomide-treated cells compared with controls. Collectively, our findings identify ¹H MRS-detectable elevation of glutamate and hyperpolarized ¹³C MRS-detectable glutamate production from either pyruvate or α-ketoglutarate as potential translatable metabolic biomarkers of response to temozolomide treatment in mutant IDH1 glioma. SIGNIFICANCE: These findings show that glutamate can be used as a noninvasive, imageable metabolic marker for early assessment of tumor response to temozolomide, with the potential to improve treatment strategies for mutant IDH1 patients.