Credit: Lu Lab, CWRU.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) detects early breast cancer metastases in mice. Metastasis occurs when cells are shed from primary breast cancer tumor and establish a new tumor at a distant site. For early detection of the metastasis with MRI, the Lu Lab at Case Western University developed a probe that binds to fibrin-fibronectin protein complexes in high-risk tumors. Fibronectin is expressed in high-risk (aggressive) cancer and not in normal tissue, so MRI imaging is able to distinguish metastases from normal tissue.