PET Tracers for Hypoxia

Tissue hypoxia, which results from an inadequate supply of oxygen, is found in a variety of solid tumours and is due to functional and structural abnormalities of the tumour vasculature. There is consistent experimental and clinical evidence that tumour hypoxia has an important role in tumour propagation, resistance to therapy and progression. As a result, assays for the detection of hypoxia in patients have been developed to predict outcome and identify patients (1) with a worse prognosis, (2) that would benefit from appropriate treatments. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is emerging as a powerful imaging technique for identifying and measuring hypoxia through molecular markers. The development of novel PET radiotracers for hypoxia represents a research priority at the University of Aberdeen.

Project Team: Professor Matteo Zanda, Dr Elaina Collie-Duguid, Professor Fiona Gilbert, Professor Andy Welch, Dr Lutz Schweiger and Dr Tim Smith