New SPECT/CT Technique Shows Impressive Biomarker Identification, Offers Increased Access for Prostate Cancer Patients

April 16, 2024

Reston, VA-A novel SPECT/CT acquisition method can accurately detect radiopharmaceutical biodistribution in a convenient manner for prostate cancer patients, opening the door for more personalized treatment. Utilizing lead-212 (²¹²Pb), the new imaging technique has the potential to change practice and increase access for patients around the world. The first-in-human images from this method were published in the April issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

There is significant interest in the development of ²¹²Pb-PSMA-based targeted alpha therapy (TAT) for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. However, ²¹²Pb is a challenging isotope to image because of the high-energy gamma rays generate significant scatter.

"The ability to acquire imaging of an alpha-emitter with a standard SPECT camera and standard collimator within a convenient acquisition time for the patient could provide more precision in how we treat patients with prostate cancer, and patients with other cancers, in the future. Confirming the presence of the drug in the target is important because it serves as a quality assurance and can be used to derive an understanding of the biodistribution and pharmacokinetics of the drug," said Stephen Rose, PhD, head of Translational Medicine and Clinical Science at AdvanCell.

In the study, researchers administered 60 MBq of ²¹²Pb-ADVC001 to a 73-year-old man with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. SPECT/CT imaging occurred at 1.5, 5, 20, and 28 hours after infusion.

Representative ²¹²Pb SPECT/CT images showed rapid tumor uptake of ²¹²Pb-ADVC001 in agreement with tumor burden shown on the pretreatment ¹⁸F-DCFPyl PET/CT images. Images acquired after 20 hours showed persistent tumor uptake despite low counts due to ²¹²Pb decay.

"In the future, this imaging technique can help to streamline the drug development process, driving conviction in the agents we bring to larger scale trials. In addition, the ability to image ²¹²Pb with a standard SPECT camera in a relatively short timeframe means that ²¹²Pb is a true theranostic alpha-emitter and could be a valuable in selecting patients for targeted alpha-therapies," said Rose

He continued, "What's more, access to PET imaging is a bottleneck, in the United States and globally. SPECT cameras are more widely available and may address this critical issue, as SPECT imaging can be used for patient selection, therapy decision making, and guiding adaptive dosing strategies based on changes of target expression and tumor volume during treatment."

The authors of "First-in-Human ²¹²Pb-PSMA-Targeted α-Therapy SPECT/CT Imaging in a Patient with Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer" include Matthew R. Griffiths, David A. Pattison, and Melissa Latter, Department of Nuclear Medicine and Specialist PET Services, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; Kevin Kuan, Stephen Taylor, William Tieu, Thomas Kryza, Danielle Meyrick Boon Quan Lee, Stephen E. Rose, and Simon G. Puttick, AdvanCell, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; and Aaron Hansen, Department of Medical Oncology, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Visit the JNM website for the latest research, and follow our new Twitterand Facebookpages @JournalofNucMed or follow us on LinkedIn.

###

Please visit the SNMMI Media Center for more information about molecular imaging and precision imaging. To schedule an interview with the researchers, please contact Rebecca Maxey at (703) 652-6772 or [email protected].

About JNM and the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging

The Journal of Nuclear Medicine (JNM) is the world's leading nuclear medicine, molecular imaging and theranostics journal, accessed more than 16 million times each year by practitioners around the globe, providing them with the information they need to advance this rapidly expanding field. Current and past issues of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine can be found online at http://jnm.snmjournals.org.

JNM is published by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI), an international scientific and medical organization dedicated to advancing nuclear medicine and molecular imaging-precision medicine that allows diagnosis and treatment to be tailored to individual patients in order to achieve the best possible outcomes. For more information, visit www.snmmi.org.

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.