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Preclinical Imaging of Mammary Intraepithelial Neoplasia with Positron Emission Tomography

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Abstract

Small-animal imaging with positron emission tomography (PET) has become a valuable tool for evaluating preclinical models of breast cancer and other diseases. In this review, we examine a number of issues related to preclinical imaging studies with PET, using transgenic models of ductal carcinoma in situ and metastasis as specific examples. We discuss imaging components such as reconstruction, normalization, and extraction of quantitative parameters. We also analyze the effect of longitudinal correlations on cohort size and present some simple statistical techniques for determining cohort sizes that may be helpful in designing preclinical imaging studies. We describe studies that are greatly facilitated by access to non-invasive imaging data including a study involving multiple endpoints and another investigating metastasis. We conclude with a brief survey of emerging approaches in small-animal PET imaging.

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Notes

  1. We use a body-centered reference in which the coronal view is perpendicular to the long axis of the body. Some preclinical studies of the brain use a different reference in which this view would be considered a horizontal view.

Abbreviations

FBP:

filtered backprojection

FDG:

[18F]2-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose

MAP:

maximum a posteriori

MIN-O:

mammary intraepithelial neoplasia-outgrowth

MIP:

maximum intensity projection

PET:

positron emission tomography

PyVmT:

Polyoma Virus middle-T

ROI:

region of interest

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to, Ramsey Badawi, Jinyi Qi, Julie Sutcliffe-Goulden, and Ciprian Catana for helpful discussions. This work was supported by NIH R21-CA102733, R01-EB000561, and R01-CA89140.

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Correspondence to Craig K. Abbey.

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Abbey, C.K., Borowsky, A.D., Gregg, J.P. et al. Preclinical Imaging of Mammary Intraepithelial Neoplasia with Positron Emission Tomography. J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia 11, 137–149 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10911-006-9020-6

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