A novel SPECT/CT acquisition method can accurately detect radiopharmaceutical biodistribution in a convenient manner for prostate cancer patients, opening the door for more personalized treatment.

Utilizing lead-212 (²¹²Pb), the brand new imaging technique has the potential to vary practice and increase access for patients world wide. The primary-in-human images from this method were published within the April issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

There is critical interest in the event of ²¹²Pb-PSMA–based targeted alpha therapy (TAT) for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Nevertheless, ²¹²Pb is a difficult isotope to image due to the high-energy gamma rays generate significant scatter.

The power to accumulate imaging of an alpha-emitter with a typical SPECT camera and standard collimator inside a convenient acquisition time for the patient could provide more precision in how we treat patients with prostate cancer, and patients with other cancers, in the long run. Confirming the presence of the drug within the goal is very important since it serves as a high quality assurance and may be used to derive an understanding of the biodistribution and pharmacokinetics of the drug.”

Stephen Rose, PhD, head of Translational Medicine and Clinical Science at AdvanCell

Within the study, researchers administered 60 MBq of ²¹²Pb-ADVC001 to a 73-year-old man with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. SPECT/CT imaging occurred at 1.5, 5, 20, and 28 hours after infusion.

Representative ²¹²Pb SPECT/CT images showed rapid tumor uptake of ²¹²Pb-ADVC001 in agreement with tumor burden shown on the pretreatment ¹⁸F-DCFPyl PET/CT images. Images acquired after 20 hours showed persistent tumor uptake despite low counts on account of ²¹²Pb decay.

“In the long run, this imaging technique might help to streamline the drug development process, driving conviction within the agents we bring to larger scale trials. As well as, the flexibility to image ²¹²Pb with a typical SPECT camera in a comparatively short timeframe implies that ²¹²Pb is a real theranostic alpha-emitter and could possibly be a invaluable in choosing patients for targeted alpha-therapies,” said Rose

He continued, “What’s more, access to PET imaging is a bottleneck, in america and globally. SPECT cameras are more widely available and will address this critical issue, as SPECT imaging may be used for patient selection, therapy decision making, and guiding adaptive dosing strategies based on changes of goal expression and tumor volume during treatment.”

The study was published online in February 2024.