Transferrin PET project

A Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center team has shown that a transferrin-based PET imaging agent detected prostate cancer in mice with greater sensitivity than ¹⁸F-labeled fluorodeoxyglucose.¹ The new agent also detected a precancerous prostate condition that is not amenable to existing imaging technologies. The team now plans to take the agent into Phase I testing to detect prostate cancer.

PET imaging uses an agent labeled with a positron-emitting radionuclide. ¹⁸F-labeled fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) is the most widely used PET agent for tumor imaging because cancer cells have higher glucose uptake than normal cells and ¹⁸F can be readily incorporated into glucose without significantly altering the biochemical properties of the sugar...