Grant: Project Grant

Cancer is a deadly disease. Despite decades of research, cancer remains the leading cause of death worldwide. As early detection and treatment can greatly improve patient outcomes, better diagnostic and therapeutic agents are urgently needed. One method physicians used to diagnose cancers is by giving patients an imaging scan called positron emission tomography. Patients receive a small dose of a radioactive agent, which selectively targets tumours and sends a signal to a detector to pinpoint their location. These imaging agents can be easily modified to carry a more potent radioactive element to kill cancer cells for therapeutic applications. While radioactive imaging/therapeutic agents designed for various cancers have been developed, these existing agents are encumbered by severe limitations. The most common problem is their high accumulation in kidneys. The high accumulation leads to very bright signal coming from kidneys, overshadows nearby small tumours, and makes it harder to detect tumours adjacent to kidneys. Similarly, the high accumulation of the radioactive agents can result in severe damage to kidneys. The goal of this proposed research is to develop a general strategy to minimize accumulation of radioactive imaging and therapeutic agents in kidneys. Most importantly, this strategy is expected to have very broad applicability, and can be used to reduce the high kidney accumulation of most of the previously reported radioactive imaging and therapeutic agents, and facilitate their clinical translation. The success of this research will generate more sensitive imaging agents for cancer detection and more efficacious therapeutic agents with minimized toxicity to kidneys. Overall, the success of this proposed research will significantly improve the diagnosis and prognosis of cancer patients in Canada and worldwide.