Descripción del proyecto
Etiquetado con deuterio para mejorar la especificidad y sensibilidad de la imagen por resonancia magnética en el diagnóstico del cáncer
La tomografía por emisión de positrones (PET) es la única tecnología establecida para la obtención de imágenes moleculares de todo el cuerpo que se utiliza ampliamente en el diagnóstico y la evaluación del tratamiento del cáncer. Sin embargo, el procedimiento PET es caro, implica radiación ionizante y tiene una especificidad limitada para la captación de glucosa asociada al cáncer. El equipo del proyecto GLUCO-SCAN, financiado por el Consejo Europeo de Investigación (CEI), pretende desarrollar y evaluar un concepto de imagen por resonancia magnética (IRM) de cuerpo entero, como la imagen metabólica por deuterio (IMD), para superar las limitaciones asociadas al actual PET. El método combinará «hardware» innovador de IRM, muestreo dinámico de datos espectroscópicos y algoritmos de aprendizaje profundo para crear una nueva generación de escáneres de cuerpo entero con la capacidad de captar simultáneamente información morfológica y molecular.
Objetivo
The targeted scientific breakthrough of GLUCO-SCAN is the development and clinical evaluation of a disruptive whole-body molecular imaging concept for cancer assessment. The only currently established whole-body molecular imaging device is positron emission tomography (PET). Glucose (Glc)-sensitive PET is widely used in cancer diagnosis and treatment assessment, but has several major limitations: PET involves harmful ionizing radiation, is expensive, not widely available, and cannot differentiate between cancer-specific and normal cellular glucose uptake. These limitations prohibit an even more widespread use of PET, e.g. for screening. We propose a new Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) concept, whole-body deuterium metabolic imaging (DMI) that will overcome these limitations.
Deuteration is a simple chemical procedure with which it is possible to artificially label a broad range of molecules with an equally broad range of potential applications, e.g. targeting Glc metabolism in cancer. After ingestion, this labeled Glc is metabolized in cells and the label is transferred to all metabolic products, which can be tracked by DMI.
Building on our recent preliminary results in Nature Biomed, we propose a combination of novel MRI hardware, dynamic spectroscopic data sampling, deep learning algorithms, and a clinical validation to answer the following three research questions in a 5-year project:
(i) Is DMI a viable alternative for whole-body cancer assessment?
(ii) How is DMI positioned compared to Glc-sensitive PET?
(iii) Can DMI be performed on widely available MRI systems and simultaneous with standard MRI?
GLUCO-SCAN will fill a gap in current medical imaging by offering an alternative for whole-body PET examinations and potentially even for screening of high risk populations. Ultimately, it will pave the way for a new generation of MR scanners with all-in-one whole-body imaging capability that would capture morphologic and molecular information simultaneously.
Ámbito científico
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Régimen de financiación
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsInstitución de acogida
1090 Wien
Austria