Imaging critical to brain cancer treatment

Imaging critical to brain cancer treatment: Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute to collaborate with Telix in ground-breaking new study

National Imaging Facility (NIF) Node partner, the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute (ONJCRI) will work with globally recognised biopharmaceutical company Telix to evaluate the use of a novel radiotracer (O-(2-[18F]fluoroethyl)-L-tyrosine or 18F-FET) to image patients with glioblastoma (GBM), a type of brain cancer, with positron emission tomography (PET) (FET-PET).

The collaboration between ONJCRI and Telix will enable a synergistic approach to improving the lives of people with GBM, which is the most common primary brain cancer in adults.

The ONJCRI is a global leader in the development of immunotherapies, targeted therapeutics, and personalised cancer medicine, while Telix is focused on the development of clinical-stage products that address significant unmet medical need in oncology and rare diseases.

The FET-PET in Glioblastoma (FIG) study will recruit up to 210 recently diagnosed adult GBM patients at 10 sites around Australia, aiming to definitively establish the role of FET-PET in the management of patients with GBM. The FIG Study is funded by the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), the Australian Brain Cancer Mission (ABCM), and the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation, and also involves the Trans-Tasman Radiation Oncology Group (TROG) and the Australasian Radiopharmaceutical Trials Network (ARTnet). 

The NIF’s LaTrobe University – ONJCRI Node Director, and Clinical Trial Co-Chair, Prof Andrew Scott AM said the study would utilise imaging to bring critical new treatment opportunities to light and have potentially life-saving impacts.

“Imaging is integral to effective diagnosis, staging and determination of the treatment pathway for all cancers, but is vitally important in GBM which is very aggressive and can be difficult to treat,” Professor Scott said.

“This ground-breaking study will use 18F-FET, a new PET tracer which can show us if tumour cells are active. This is a more functional imaging technique compared to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the current standard imaging tool, and could potentially provide a powerful imaging biomarker for the management of brain cancer and improve survival rates.”

National Imaging Facility CEO, Prof Wojtek Goscinski said the collaboration was an exciting opportunity to see the life-changing impacts that cutting-edge imaging capabilities can have on people living with debilitating illnesses.

“Medical imaging plays a critical role in the diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of life-threatening diseases like GBM,” Prof Goscinski said.

“It is excellent to see Australian-led research use imaging with the aim to improve the treatment of patients with GBM and save lives.

“It’s exciting for NIF’s LaTrobe University – ONJCRI node to be involved in an industry partnership that has the potential to expand the country’s economic growth, and position Australia as a global leader in cancer research,” he said.

You can read more about the announcement here.

Better detection and treatment of dementia

Biogen’s Aducanumab (Aduhelm) is the first disease modifying therapy for AD approved by the The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). NIF’s positron emission tomography (PET) imaging facilities at the University of Melbourne, HIRF and the Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI) supported the Australian trial recruitment of the Biogen Phase 3 trial by screening potentially suitable participants with amyloid PET scans in collaboration with the Australian Imaging Biomarkers and Lifestyle Study of Ageing at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health and Austin Health.

To prescribe the treatment for prodromal and early clinical AD it will be necessary to use imaging both PET and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)/blood biomarkers to ensure that subjects being treated have AD and that side effects from Aduhelm are properly managed.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia making up 70% of all dementia. There are about 300,000 Australians currently living with the disease, with the average disease duration of 10 years equating to 30,000 new cases each year. These numbers are predicted to triple by 2050.

The degeneration within the brain begins two to three decades before overt symptoms, highlighting early detection is critical. NIF’s University of Melbourne Node and the Herston Imaging Research Facility (HIRF) have been involved in several dementia trials, studying different aspects of the disease including early biomarker detection, combining state of the art multimodality imaging, genetics and neuropsychology. NIF is working to assess novel radiotracers as a diagnostic tool for early detection of AD and the development of a national network of radiotracers for dementia screening in collaboration with QTRaCE and the Australia Dementia Network (ADNeT). This research aids the success of new preventative medicines, both through repurposing an existing drug and novel drug development and improves classification of AD subtypes, which impact treatment profiles.

NIF has played a major role in helping Australia to maintain its leadership in imaging applied to the dementias, particularly in AD. This has occurred at multiple sites around the country since 2012. The advent of disease modifying therapies for AD will cause an increase in demand for services and it will be crucial for new innovative and cost effective methods of service delivery in our increasingly ageing population.

PET for Plants

Clinical PET/CT scanners deliver non-invasive, precise anatomical and functional imaging of the human body. Did you know the same systems have been used to investigate plants?

A team of cross-disciplinary researchers at the University of Melbourne, University of Adelaide, and the University of British Columbia have teamed up to demonstrate the utility of clinical PET/CT scanners to image plants.

Read More

Open-Field PET

Understanding the molecular mechanisms that regulate behaviour, memory, and reward-based learning has challenged neuroscientists for decades. Until recently, research into these fundamental mechanisms in the brain has relied on invasive or confounding methodologies, limiting studies of neurological disorders that affect behaviour and learning, such as depression, age-related neurodegeneration, and addiction.

Read More

PET training for HDR

From July 14 – 17, four CIBIT HDR students, Saikat Ghosh, Vanessa Soh, Pragalath Sadasivam and Ting Xiang Lim, attended an in-depth training session on PET imaging. Run by Dr Karine Mardon, NIF Facility Fellow and Molecular Imaging Facility Manager at the Centre for Advanced Imaging, the course covered both molecular imaging theory and practical hands-on training relevant to the students’ research projects. 

Read More
Privacy Settings
Youtube
Vimeo
Google Maps
Save
We use cookies to enhance your experience while using our website. To learn more about the cookies we use and the data we collect, please check our Privacy Policy .
I Accept