An Albumin-Binding T1- T2 Dual-Modal MRI Contrast Agents for Improved Sensitivity and Accuracy in Tumor Imaging.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) diagnosis is better assisted by contrast agents that can augment the signal contrast in the imaging appearance. However, this technique is still limited by the inherently low sensitivity on the recorded signal changes in conventional T1 or T2 MRI in a qualitative manner. Here, we provide a new paradigm of MRI diagnosis using T1- T2 dual-modal MRI contrast agents for contrast-enhanced postimaging computations on T1 and T2 relaxation changes. An albumin-binding molecule (i.e., truncated Evans blue) chelated with paramagnetic manganese ion was developed as a novel T1- T2 dual-modal MRI contrast agent at high magnetic field (7 T). Furthermore, the postimaging computations on T1- T2 dual-modal MRI led to greatly enhanced signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratios (CNR) in both subcutaneous and orthotopic brain tumor models compared with traditional MRI methods. The T1- T2 dual-modal MRI computations have great potential to eliminate suspicious artifacts and false-positive signals in mouse brain imaging. This study may open new avenues for contrast-enhanced MRI diagnosis and holds great promise for precision medicine.