According to an article in Science Daily, Professor David Nicewicz and a team of researchers at the UNC Department of Chemistry, discovered a method of creating tracers used in conjunction with PET imaging.
By using radioactive tags attached to compounds, these findings make labeling possible that had previously been impossible.
About PET Scans
PET scans play a critical role in developing drugs, drug discovery, and medical imaging to discover diseases in the body.
PET scans use dyes with radioactive tracers that are swallowed or injected. The tracers are absorbed by specific tissues and organs and are easily identified on the scan.
Labeling Glucose Molecules
Now scientists are able to attach tags to molecules. Tags are attached to certain molecules such as glucose for example. These molecules accumulate in tumors due to the fact that cancer cells depend on such sugars to stimulate their fierce growth. A similar occurrence takes place in amino acids.
Labeling Drug Molecules
The tags may also be attached to newly developed drugs in order to follow their route through the body.
The scientists are contributing to an entirely new method of radio-labeled isotopes of atoms into drug molecules. They noted that this is the first time this particular method has been introduced to the medical field.
Multiple Applications
The discovery opens the field to multiple applications such as screening to determine a patient’s response to a drug or research for drug development.
Importantly, current radiolabeling procedures require attaching the radiotag to new compounds. However, the new approach may involve attaching the tag to existing compounds. This will have an impact on research for drug development.
They also hope to be able to use existing drugs to generate unique PET agents. As Dr. Nicewicz explains, in addition to studying where drugs have settled, they will be able to create imaging agents that will track inflammation and cancer progression. This will obviously aid in research for Alzheimer’s, cancer, and other diseases.
Dr. Nicewicz stressed the importance of having several methods for detecting tumors, giving physicians a cross-verification.
The scientists envision using the information from the PET tracer to create treatment plans designed specifically for each patient. It would be a step towards personalized medicine.
The study confirmed that the scientists could image tumors by labeling a wide range of compounds, including amino acids and drugs to treat inflammatory conditions.
