Response assessment and side effect prediction of immunotherapy using PET with cancer-specific FBPA and FDG

• Project/Area Number: 19K08198
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 52040:Radiological sciences-related
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: Tatsumi Mitsuaki 大阪大学, 医学部附属病院, 准教授 (60397700)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 渡部 直史 大阪大学, 大学院医学系研究科, 助教 (90648932)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2022)
• Budget Amount: ¥4,290,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥990,000); Fiscal Year 2022: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000); Fiscal Year 2021: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000); Fiscal Year 2020: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000); Fiscal Year 2019: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000)
• Keywords: がん免疫療法 / FBPA / PET

Outline of Research at the Start

がんに対する免疫療法では、炎症が大きく関与するため、従来の化学療法とは異なった治療後経過や副作用が生じる。様々ながんの化学療法効果判定に用いられているFDG PETは、炎症の影響を受けやすいために免疫療法の理想的な判定法とは言い難い。
本研究では、がんに特異性の高いアミノ酸系の放射性薬剤F-18 fluoroboronophenylalanine (FBPA) を用いたPETを人および担がん小動物において行い、免疫療法治療後早期での効果判定における実用性・有用性を検討する。同時期に撮像したFDG PETと比較することで、炎症の存在を明確化し、炎症と最終的な治療効果や予後、副作用との関連を明らかにする。

Outline of Final Research Achievements

PET with F-18 fluoroboronophenylalanine (FBPA), a highly cancer-specific radiopharmaceutical, was compared with FDG PET to investigate its potential in determining efficacy in the early post-immunotherapy period when inflammation is a major factor. In a mouse model of malignant melanoma, quantitative evaluation of PET images showed that the FBPA PET treatment group had less tumor accumulation and smaller volume indices as compared to the non-treatment group. FDG-PET exhibited no significant differences in these indices, and some of the indices were rather greater in the treatment group. FBPA PET may have the potential to detect early post-treatment effects of cancer immunotherapy.

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

がん免疫療法において、がんに特異性の高いFBPA PETは、FDG PETよりも早期に正確に効果判定を行うことのできる可能性があることが明らかとなった。FBPA PETによるがん免疫療法治療効果判定により、効果不良群の早期検出が副作用低減や費用削減につながるか、今後検討すべき課題と考えられる。

Research Products

• [Journal Article] Advantages of FBPA PET in evaluating early response of anti-PD-1 immunotherapy in B16F10 melanoma-bearing mice: Comparison to FDG PET (2022)
  • Author(s): Tatsumi Mitsuaki、Soeda Fumihiko、Naka Sadahiro、Kurimoto Kenta、Ooe Kazuhiro、Fukui Hideyuki、Katayama Daisuke、Watabe Tadashi、Kato Hiroki、Tomiyama Noriyuki
  • Journal Title: Frontiers in Oncology Volume: 12 Pages: 1026608-1026608
  • DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2022.1026608
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access
• [Presentation] Advantages of FBPA PET in evaluating early response of anti PD-1 immunotherapy in tumor-bearing mice: comparison to FDG PET (2022)
  • Author(s): Tatsumi M, Soeda F, Watabe T, Naka S, Ooe K, Kurimoto K, Katayama D, Kato H
  • Organizer: The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging 2022 Annual Meeting
  • Int'l Joint Research