Cancer

Cancer is a group of distinct diseases characterised by the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the body. It is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Globalisation of unhealthy lifestyles such as smoking and poor diet, have been associated with the increase of cancer incidence.


This image is taken from Gatenby, R.A et al. (2004), Nat. Med. 4, 891-899; with permission from the Nature Publishing Group.

The most effective treatments for cancer are surgical resection of the abnormal tissue followed by radiation and chemotherapy or a combination of them. However, deciding the extent of the tumour area to resect or treat is a challenging task. Overestimating the tumour size can result in side effects during treatment such as loss of memory or cognitive function if the tumour is in the brain, whereas underestimating it can lead to tumour regrowth and may leave patients more susceptible to secondary tumours (metastasis).

Amide proton transfer (APT) imaging

APT imaging is a form of chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) that allows the detection of previously undetectable amide protons due to its low concentration, through a chemical exchange reaction with the water protons. This new and novel imaging technique has the ability to measure cellular information such as pH and protein concentration. Since pH and protein concentration are different in the tumour compared to normal tissue, APT imaging has the potential to improve diagnosis and treatment planning by providing more accurate targets for biopsy, local chemotherapy, radiation therapy and tumour resection.
 
I am working closely with colleagues at Oxford Institute of Radiation Oncology for the application of APT imaging in cancer. Developping a physiological meaningful quantification method for the APT effect and facilitating APT imaging for clinical cancer imaging are the key components of my work.

Selected publications:

  1. K.J. Ray, J.R. Larkin, Y.K. Tee et al., "Determination of an optimally sensitive and specific Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer MRI quantification metric in relevant biological phantoms", NMR Biomed., 29 (11): 1624-1633, 2016. [Link]
  2. Y.K. Tee, M.J. Donahue, G. Harston, S.J. Payne, and M.A. Chappell, "Quantification of amide proton transfer effect pre- and post-gadolinium contrast agent administration", Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 40: 832–838, 2014. [Link]
  3. A. Mehndiratta, Y.K. Tee, M.A. Chappell, F.L. Giesel, “An Introduction to Brain Tumor Imaging”, M.A. Hayat (Ed.), Tumors of the Central Nervous System, Volume 11, 2014, pp 3-20.
  4. Y.K. Tee, A.A Khrapichev, N.R. Sibson, S.J. Payne, and M.A. Chappell, "Optimal Sampling Schedule for Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer", Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 70: 1251–1262, 2013. [Link]
  5. Y.K. Tee, A.A Khrapichev, N.R. Sibson, S.J. Payne, and M.A. Chappell, "Evaluating the Use of a Continuous Approximation for Model-Based Quantification of Pulsed Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer (CEST)", Journal of Magnetic Resonance, 222: 88-95, 2012. [Link]