Seminar

Medical Physics Seminar – Monday, May 13, 2013

Molecular Imaging of Tumor Angiogenesis

Yin Zhang (student of Dr. Weibo Cai)
Research Assistant, Department of Medical Physics, UW-School of Medicine & Public Health, Madison, WI - USA –

Molecular imaging has evolved dramatically over the last decade and played an increasingly more important role in cancer diagnosis and patient management. It can allow early cancer detection and personalized medicine. Angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels, is one of the key requirements during tumor development and one of the hallmarks of cancer. Since angiogenesis is a universal and fundamental process in solid tumors, tremendous effort has been devoted to targeting angiogenesis-related markers, including intergin αvβ3, vascular endothelial growth factor receptors (VEGFRs) and CD105/endoglin. Several novel molecular imaging agents developed for targeted imaging of the expression of CD105 and VEGFRs will be discussed.

Positron emission tomography (PET) is sensitive, quantitative, and widely used in the clinic. TRC105, a human/murine chimeric monoclonal antibody (mAb) that binds CD105, was labeled with PET isotope 64Cu, to yield two PET agents: 64Cu-DOTA-TRC105 and 64Cu-NOTA-TRC105 for in vivo PET imaging of CD105 expression. The specificity of the agents was confirmed by different in vitro, in vivo, and ex vivo experiments. The two chelators for 64Cu labeling were compared and it was demonstrated that NOTA is superior for in vivo application. Near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) imaging of CD105 expression was also achieved with NIR dye 800CW labeled TRC105.

Among all of the molecular imaging modalities, no single modality is perfect and each technique has its advantages and disadvantages. Multimodality imaging agents targeting CD105 are developed and evaluated in subcutaneous tumor model and experimental breast cancer lung metastasis model.
Non-invasive PET imaging of VEGFRs expression using 61Cu labeled VEGF121. The use of 64Cu-NOTA-TRC105 for PET imaging of CD105 expression in a murine hindlimb ischemia model will be discussed.

Location: 1335 (HSLC) Health Sciences Learning Center, 750 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI

Time: 4:00pm-5:00pm