Cell biomaterialsJul 9, 2026

mRNA-based MRI agent for accurate diagnosis of brain tumors and treatment-related changes

mRNA Technology Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Jul 10, 2026

Abstract

A non-metallic MRI contrast agent named TARGET may enhance glioma diagnostic accuracy.

TARGET is composed of a serotonin-derived lipid nanoparticle and an engineered mRNA for glioma-specific expression.
The mRNA encodes aquaporin-1, which creates a water channel on cell membranes to improve MRI contrast.
The design of the 3'UTR allows the mRNA to degrade in healthy tissues, facilitating the detection of pseudoprogression.
TARGET may serve as an effective alternative to gadolinium-based contrast agents in brain tumor diagnosis.
This proof-of-concept study suggests that TARGET could improve the differentiation between true tumor progression and pseudoprogression.

Simplified

Precise diagnosis of glioma remains challenging in two aspects: one is to accurately image the tumor margin before surgery, and the other is to distinguish pseudoprogression and true tumor progression after therapy. Here, we developed a non-metallic MRI contrast agent, composed of a serotonin-derived ionizable lipid nanoparticle (LNP) and an mRNA with its 3'UTR engineered for glioma-specific expression. To enhance the contrast signal of the glioma in MRI, the aquaporin-1 (AQP1) mRNA was delivered to encode a water channel on cell membranes. Furthermore, the engineered 3'UTR ensures that the mRNA is degraded in healthy tissues instead of glioma, making pseudoprogression easily detectable by MRI. The mRNA-based contrast agent, named "TARGET", provides an effective complement to gadolinium contrast agents in the diagnosis of brain tumors. This proof-of-concept study demonstrates that TARGET holds promise for substantially enhancing diagnostic accuracy of glioma and pseudoprogression in clinical translation.