QIBA PET Amyloid Biomarker Committee: Overview and 2016 Update

Developing a Safe and Effective Compounding Method for Hyperpolarized Pyruvate to be Used in the Clinical Evaluation of MR Molecular Imaging in Cancer Patients

Annexin A5 Imaging: An Academic Research – Clinical Trials and Theses

Apoptosis or genetically programmed cell death is a universal phenomenon involving many pathophysiological conditions. Externalization of phosphatidylserine from the inner leaflet to the outer leaflet of the cell membrane is an early event in the apoptotic cascade occurring before membrane blebbing and DNA fragmentation. Annexin A5, a 36 kDa endogenous protein, specifically binds to phosphatidylserine with a nanomolar affinity in presence of calcium ions. In molecular imaging, phosphatidylserine has been used as a molecular target for the imaging of apoptosis with 99mTc-annexin A5 as a molecular probe. In clinical research, recombinant human 99mTc-annexin A5 has been successfully for the non-invasive assessment of apoptotic reserve in vivo. In academic centers, annexin A5 imaging has also been the subject of theses including doctoral theses, master theses and mémoire. This review highlights the large body corpus of literature on the radiolabeled annexin A5 imaging including publications on clinical trials and academic dissertations.

Synthesis and characterization of scVEGF-PEG- [68Ga]NOTA and scVEGF-PEG-[68Ga]DOTA PET tracers

In this paper, we explore the Ga-68 labeling of single-chain (sc) VEGF, a recombinant DNA engineered VEGFR-2 ligand that has the potential for imaging changes in VEGF/VEGFR-2 prevalence related to tumor angiogenesis and response to treatment. Both DOTA and NOTA were site-specifically conjugated via polyethylene glycol to scVEGF. Radio labeling was accomplished at room temperature with NOTA or at 90oC by either conventional or microwave heating with NOTA and DOTA resulting in high specific activity (400 MBq/nmol) following 2 min microwaving. The bioactivity of the tracers was validated in 3-D tissue culture model of 293/KDR cells engineered to express high levels of VEGFR-2. The NOTA-containing tracer also displayed a rapid accumulation (20 s after intravenous injection) to steady-state level in xenograft tumor models.

The risk of exaggerated risk aversion—a life and death struggle for molecular imaging

In these days of managed care, there are always trade-offs between risks and value that need to be carefully weighted. As more and more use of PET imaging and biomarkers get validated, their combined value will be overwhelmingly appreciated.