Robust detection of oncometabolic aberrations by ¹H–¹³C heteronuclear single quantum correlation in intact biological specimens

Magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy has potential to non-invasively detect metabolites of diagnostic significance for precision oncology. Yet, many metabolites have similar chemical shifts, yielding highly convoluted ¹H spectra of intact biological material and limiting diagnostic utility. Here, we show that hydrogen–carbon heteronuclear single quantum correlation (¹H–¹³C HSQC) offers dramatic improvements in sensitivity compared to one-dimensional (1D) ¹³C NMR and significant signal deconvolution compared to 1D ¹H spectra in intact biological settings. Using a standard NMR spectroscope with a cryoprobe but without specialized signal enhancing features such as magic angle spinning, metabolite extractions or ¹³C-isotopic enrichment, we obtain well-resolved 2D ¹H–¹³C HSQC spectra in live cancer cells, in ex vivo freshly dissected xenografted tumors and resected primary tumors. This method can identify tumors with specific oncometabolite alterations such as IDH mutations by 2-hydroxyglutarate and PGD-deleted tumors by gluconate. Results suggest potential of ¹H–¹³C HSQC as a non-invasive diagnostic in precision oncology.