Grant: Alternative Radiopharmaceuticals for Medical Imaging

The aim of this proposal is to simplify a heart imaging method used in Nuclear Medicine while simultaneously replacing the radioisotope it employs with one which is more readily available. Our approach will be to replace the current method of tagging red blood cells which uses the radioisotope Tc-99m with one in which a biocompatible polymer, a so-called polyglycerol, is tagged with Ga-68. Ga-68 is a positron emitter (PET isotope) and does not require a reactor for production. There are several advantages of the new method over the old one. The need for the handling of blood and blood components is thereby eliminated; complexity for clinicians is reduced since the 3 current procedures are replaced by one; current waiting periods for patients (and medical personnel) are omitted; and interactions between the radiolabelling procedure and chemotherapeutic drugs (that many patients must take) are prevented. The standardization to one simple and fast method will thus guarantee a radiopharmaceutical for cardiac imaging which is always in its optimal form. After confirming the blood compatibility and non-toxicity of the new agent, its stability and imaging properties will be tested in animals and directly compared to the currently used red blood cell labelling methods. In a final step, a first clinical trial in healthy volunteers will be conducted.