CXCR4-imaging in esophageal cancer - diagnosis and prognosis (B05)

Subject Area Nuclear Medicine, Radiotherapy, Radiobiology
Term from 2009 to 2021
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 68647618
 

Project Description

Chronic inflammation is a central process in the development of Barrett’s Esophagus (BE) and its progression to esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), with chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) expressing immune cells playing a key role in cancerogenesis and as a supportive niche for metastatic tumor cells. This project aims at improving surveillance and prognostic accuracy for BE and EAC patients by a) exploiting established CXCR4-targeted imaging techniques ([68Ga]Pentixafor-PET) to further analyze the role of CXCR4 expression in the progression of BE to EAC and in metastasis, and b) by the development of novel imaging probes for sensitive detection of CXCR4 expression in all stages of the disease by PET/optical imaging and fluorescence-supported endoscopy, both in mouse models and in humans.
DFG Programme Collaborative Research Centres
Subproject of SFB 824:  Imaging for Selection, Monitoring and Individualisation of Cancer Therapies
Applicant Institution Technische Universität München (TUM)
Project Heads Professor Dr. Michael Quante; Professorin Dr. Margret Schottelius, until 5/2019; Professor Dr. Hans-Jürgen Wester, since 6/2019