Establishment of Imaging Technology Platform for Immunological Cell Tracking in Cancer Immunotherapy

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K08109
• 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: Okayama University
• Principal Investigator: SASAKI Takanori 岡山大学, 医歯薬学域, 助教 (10461253)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: PET / Zr-89 / がん免疫治療

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We have developed a cell PET probe that can be used as an imaging probe to establish a platform technology for evaluating the tracking of cancer immunotherapy and cell therapy. We directly labeled several types of immune cells with a radioactive isotope, Zr-89, and optimized the specific radioactivity and cell function. Using these cell probes, we evaluated the effectiveness of immunotherapy and the number of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in animal models of colon cancer, breast cancer, and lymphoma, and examined the usefulness of the cell PET probe. Using the radioactive energy, we were able to quantitatively visualize the distribution of immune cells in tumors and other organs. By visualizing and quantitatively evaluating TIL infiltration with the developed cell PET probe technology, we established a platform technology for evaluating the effectiveness of immunotherapy.

Free Research Field

放射線医学、獣医学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究はがん免疫治療おいて免疫細胞に放射性同位元素を直接標識することでPETプローブとし、治療効果をTILの可視化として検出することができた初めての研究である。また我々が用いた標識方法は細胞種に依存せず汎用な細胞へ応用可能であることも証明できた。これらの学術的意義は高く、今後さまざまな細胞動態の可視化による疾患メカニズムの解明が期待できる。さらにこの技術は臨床に用いられるPETイメージング技術を用いており、治療効果判定などに使用できる可能性も秘めており社会的意義が高い。