Recent advances in cancer immunotherapy imaging: diagnosis and treatment |
Trending now! As illustrated in the following graph, research interest in the field of immunotherapy is growing exponentially (source: Select Biosciences Ltd, UK). |
Users of MILabs’ VECTor PET/SPECT/OI/CT imaging platform demonstrate that the system offers a full panel of molecular imaging techniques for immunotherapy research. The combined imaging offered by the platform’s integrated multimodal capabilities and its exclusive omni-tomography synergies enable for the first time, a comprehensive evaluation of novel pharmaceuticals and tumor responses to given therapies. |
Ultra-high-resolution SPECT/CT for imaging of heterogeneity of the tumor microenvironment |
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In vivo imaging of pro- and antitumoral cellular components of the tumor micro-environment has long been hampered by the limited resolution of molecular imaging modalities. With MILabs’ ultra-high 120-micron resolution SPECT, it is now possible to track in 3D, the heterogeneous effect of immunotherapy on tumors, whether using antibodies, oncolytic viruses, or T-cell activity. In fact, U-SPECT was the first system used to illustrate were T-cells were hiding in various tumors by detecting PD-L1 expression levels. |
Simultaneous imaging of co-administered PET and SPECT tracers for a better understanding of cancer biology |
With the MILabs VECTor one can simultaneously image co-injected PET and SPECT tracers at sub-mm resolution. Such high-resolution coincident imaging of e.g., vascularity and hypoxia (left image), enables to study the combined effect of antiangiogenic, antivascular, and antihypoxia therapies on tumors, while the right image illustrates that simultaneous PET/SPECT imaging can augment our understanding of the non-specific uptake of radiolabeled immunotherapy antibodies, and reveal tumor heterogeneity with PET. |
3D DCE-CT imaging of tumor angiogenesis and targeted CE-CT, molecular CT and radiotherapy imaging |
The ultra-high-resolution U-CT system allows highly accurate quantification of relative blood volume (rBV) and detailed 3D analysis of the vascular network in tumors (top). DCE-CT can further be combined with dual-energy CT acquisitions to enhance contrast further or discriminate between two contrast agents. Targeted CE-CT is possible by a new agent with high iodine content cRGD-PThyN for imaging lung tumors (below). A facile iodine exchange reaction enables the use of 123I or 124I for SPECT and PET imaging, or 131I for radiotherapy imaging, all at sub-mm resolution (bottom right). |
Multimodal oncoviral and T-cell therapy imaging, from basic research to clinical-compliant imaging |
MILabs’ Broadband Photon Tomography provides a significant advancement for studying oncolytic virus and CAR-T cell therapy by combining optical and nuclear tomography for studying both deep orthopedic and subcutaneous tumors. Moreover, a wide-variety of clinically compliant techniques can be used for imaging oncolytic viruses or CAR-T cells expressing hNIS : 123I or 99mTc for SPECT, positron-range-free 124I or 18F-TFB for PET, and 131I or 188Re for radiotherapy. Plus, simultaneous imaging of PET/SPECT and PET/Radiotherapy tracers accelerates translation to the clinic. |
Sub-mm radio-immunotherapy (RIT) imaging using all alpha- and beta-emitting isotopes |
With its wide radioisotope energy range (20-1000 keV) and sub-mm resolution imaging capabilities, MILabs’ VECTor is the only preclinical imaging platform allowing its users to exploit imaging of all tracers for targeted radiotherapy in mice. This includes most, if not all, known “single entity” radiotheranostic agents, including α- and β-emitting radionuclides conjugated to a wide range of biomolecules, antibodies, peptides, small-molecule inhibitors, and nanocarriers. 223Ra-dichloride has intrinsic bone-targeting properties. |
Further reading:
Ra-223: Abou et al, First whole-body three-dimensional tomographic imaging of alpha particle emitting Radium-223, bioRxiv, 2018
Lu-177: Kuo et al, Enhancing treatment efficacy of 177Lu-PSMA-617 with the conjugation of an albumin-binding motif: preclinical dosimetry and endoradiotherapy studies, Molecular Pharmaceutics, 2018
Re-188: Esquinas et al, 188Re image performance assessment using small animal multi-pinhole SPECT/PET/CT system, Physica Medica, 2017
At-209: Crawford et al, Evaluation of 209At as a theranostic isotope for 209At-radiopharmaceutical development using high-energy SPECT, Phys Med Biol, 2018
I-131: D’Huyvetter et al, 131I-labeled anti-HER2 camelid sdAb as a theranostic tool in cancer treatment, Clin Cancer Res, 2017
Bi-131: De Swart et al, Utilizing high-energy γ-photons for high-resolution 213Bi SPECT in mice, J Nucl Med, 2016
Ac-225: Robertson et al, Multi-isotope SPECT imaging of the 225Ac decay chain: feasibility studies, Phys Med Biol, 2017 |
Deep-tissue and translational nanomedicine imaging with optical/CT and nuclear/CT tomography |
In nanomedicine, carrier materials with a size of 1-100 nm are employed to improve tumor uptake and biodistribution of administered therapeutic drugs. The VECTor platform enables researchers to use both optical probes and nuclear tracers for nanomedicine applications. Dual-labeled optical/nuclear probes facilitate translation of nanomedicines from bench to clinic without changing nanocarriers (left). The effect of nanoparticle size and tumor EPR can be studied with both optical FLT and nuclear PET or SPECT (right). FLT quantitation and correlation with PET is excellent, even for deep tissue imaging. |
Evaluating novel tracers for early detection of immunotherapy response |
MILabs’ VECTor multimodal synergy provides an excellent toolbox for evaluating novel probes for early immunotherapy response detection. Translating from optical to nuclear tracers can be done on the same platform, under the same physical and physiological conditions. One-to-one translation from SPECT to PET, or Radiotherapy, is virtually seamless thanks to simultaneous exclusive multi-isotope imaging. This is illustrated by comparing early apoptosis detection with 99mTc-duramicin that is nearly undetected by 18F-FDG (left), and novel tracer development for macrophage imaging (right). |
EANM, October 12-16, Barcelona
ISTR, October 28-November 1, Vienna
RSNA, December 1-7, Chicago
ORS, February 8-11, Phoenix
AACR, April 24-29, San Diego |
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