Immuno-PET using radiolabeled antibodies (monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), antibody fragments or engineered protein scaffolds) has the potential to offer non-invasive criteria able to identify the presence and accessibility of the target, to measure more accurately tumor response in a timely fashion, and to assist in patient stratification. Furthermore, immuno-PET can provide information about the heterogeneity of both target expression and therapeutic response, which are increasingly recognized as key factors in therapeutic resistance. Especially in patients with advanced disease where target expression may vary from site to site and biopsy of a single site may not represent the entire burden of a disease, Immuno-PET can act as a crucial disease tracking tool.
Overview
The clinical use of full-length mAbs as imaging agents can be challenging, due to their long biological half-life and relatively slow tumor penetration, which may affect tumor-to-background contrast at early time points. To circumvent these issues, Dr Gabriela Kramer-Marek’s team has developed radiolabeled affibody-based PET tracers that still have high specificity and affinity of the potential therapeutic mAb, but their molecular weight below 60 kDa allows for rapid renal clearance and elimination.
In this webinar, Dr Gabriela Kramer-Marek will focus on HER-specific imaging radioconjugates that could provide unique information as cancer biomarkers, including quantification of receptor heterogeneity and early detection of changes in target expression in response to therapy.
Speakers
Dr Ali Asgar Attarwala
Bruker BioSpin
Joined Bruker BioSpin in 2018 as Application Scientist in the field of PreClinical Imaging (PCI) supporting PET/SPECT/CT and MR imaging. Previously, he studied Medical Physics at the University of Heidelberg where he graduated in 2017. During his time in Heidelberg he mainly focused on optimization of quantitative imaging techniques and therapy planning in radiation oncology.
Dr Gabriela Kramer-Marek
Team Leader
Dr Gabriela Kramer-Marek received her Ph.D. degree in Medical Physics in 2005 from Silesian University, Poland, and the following year joined the Radiation Oncology Branch, NCI/NIH, Bethesda, USA, to work as a postdoctoral research fellow on the development and characterization of molecular probes for in vivo detection and quantification of tumor-specific markers. In 2012 she accepted her first faculty position (Research Assistant Professor) in the Department of Medicine, at the Indiana University, Indianapolis, US. From July 2013 she has been leading the Preclinical Molecular Imaging Team at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, UK.
What to Expect?
Dr Kramer-Marek will introduce the immuno-PET techniques the Preclinical Molecular Imaging Team are using at The Institute of Cancer Research in London, with a focus on imaging HER3 receptor, which is increasingly being recognized as a key player in therapeutic resistance in HER2 and EGFR-driven cancers. She will discuss affibody-based PET agents as potential new imaging biomarkers for personalized assessment of drug resistance and early prediction of patient treatment responses.
Key Topics
The main topics that will be covered include:
- The assessment of drug resistance and prediction of treatment response using the new immuno-PET/affibody agents.
- HER specific imaging biomarkers as a worthy investment that could help to personalize treatment at an early stage based on how individuals respond to certain drugs.
- The Albira PET/SPECT/CT imaging system from Bruker.
Who Should Attend?
The webinar would appeal to basic biologists, radiochemists, clinicians and drug developers interested in the use of immuno-PET in clinical trials. Researchers in the field of cancer biology and immunotherapy who are interested in immune checkpoint inhibitors would also benefit.