Proof-of-Concept Study of Monitoring Cancer Drug Therapy with Cerenkov Luminescence Imaging

Journal of Nuclear Medicine

Hongguang Liu¹  Edwin Chang¹  Sanjiv Sam Gambhir¹  Han Jiang¹  Yingding Xu¹  Zhen Cheng¹ 

[1] Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), Department of Radiology and Bio-X Program, Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection, Stanford University, Stanford, California Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), Department of Radiology and Bio-X Program, Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection, Stanford University, Stanford, California Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), Department of Radiology and Bio-X Program, Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection, Stanford University, Stanford, California

关键词: therapy monitoring;    Cerenkov luminescence imaging;    radionuclides;    optical imaging;    PET;    Avastin;   

DOI  :  10.2967/jnumed.111.094623

学科分类：医学（综合）

来源: Society of Nuclear Medicine

【 摘 要 】

Cerenkov luminescence imaging (CLI) has emerged as a less expensive, easier-to-use, and higher-throughput alternative to other nuclear imaging modalities such as PET. It is expected that CLI will find many applications in biomedical research such as cancer detection, probe development, drug screening, and therapy monitoring. In this study, we explored the possibility of using CLI to monitor drug efficacy by comparisons against PET. To assess the performance of both modalities in therapy monitoring, 2 murine tumor models (large cell lung cancer cell line H460 and prostate cancer cell line PC3) were given bevacizumab versus vehicle treatments. Two common radiotracers, 3′-deoxy-3′-18F-fluorothymidine (18F-FLT) and 18F-FDG, were used to monitor bevacizumab treatment efficacy. Methods: One group of mice (n = 6) was implanted with H460 xenografts bilaterally in the shoulder region, divided into treatment and control groups (n = 3 each), injected with 18F-FLT, and imaged with PET immediately followed by CLI. The other group of mice (n = 6) was implanted with PC3 xenografts in the same locations, divided into treatment and control groups (n = 3 each), injected with 18F-FDG, and imaged by the same modalities. Bevacizumab treatment was performed by 2 injections of 20 mg/kg at days 0 and 2. Results: On 18F-FLT scans, both CLI and PET revealed significantly decreased signals from H460 xenografts in treated mice from pretreatment to day 3. Moderately increased to unchanged signals were observed in untreated mice. On 18F-FDG scans, both CLI and PET showed relatively unchanged signals from PC3 tumors in both treated and control groups. Quantifications of tumor signals of Cerenkov luminescence and PET images showed that the 2 modalities had excellent correlations (R2 > 0.88 across all study groups). Conclusion: CLI and PET exhibit excellent correlations across different tumor xenografts and radiotracers. This is the first study, to our knowledge, demonstrating the use of CLI for monitoring cancer treatment. The findings warrant further exploration and optimization of CLI as an alternative to PET in preclinical therapeutic monitoring and drug screening.

【 授权许可】

Unknown