Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Cancer treatment is reliant on locating tumours and characterizing them to predict therapy response. Positron emission tomography, known as a 'PET scan', is a technology that uses injected radiotracers to produce 3D images of tumours and organs in the body. Developing new radiotracers for use with PET technology will allow clinicians to learn about the inner workings of a patient's cancer to predict therapy outcome and monitor therapy response, all done without the need for surgery. This research project describes a novel PET radiotracer that reflects the functional status of tumour blood vessels. Tumours require blood flow in order to respond to radiation therapy, and for chemotherapeutics to be delivered to the entire tumour. By imaging vascular function before treatment it would be possible to identify patients who are at risk for poor response to therapy and to provide an intervention to enhance blood flow to the tumour at the time of treatment. We believe that this research project has a wide range of potential impact. Tumour blood flow is an important consideration for many types of cancers, any type that includes a solid tumour, meaning our radiotracer could be applied to a majority of patients. Additionally, our radiotracer can be produced and transported to an off-site clinic for imaging, unlike previous blood flow radiotracers that must be used where they are produced.