New PET tracer for imaging of functional liver reserve

An important question during planning of liver surgery is how many functional liver mass will remain e.g. after removal of a liver tumour. The more precise a regional determination of the remaining tissue can be carried out, the higher the success of such an intervention will be. To answer this and related questions our project focuses on the development of a radiolabelled drug, a so-called radiopharmaceutical, which accumulates after injection only in functional liver cells and will be eliminated from the body remainder rapidly. This accumulation in the liver can be imaged using positron emission tomography and thus, allows a non-invasive regional determination of the functional liver segments. The target used for the specific accumulation is a protein exclusively found on liver cells. This protein is the asialoglycoprotein receptor, which allows the uptake and degradation of a special type of glycosylated proteins in liver cells. We use this property for the development of synthetic compounds, which will be recognized from the receptor and will contain a radioactive atom. The tomograph can transform the emitted radiation in a three-dimensional distribution pattern in the human body. The presented project includes four major sections. The first focuses on the production of the different synthetic compounds and the second on the introduction of the radioactive atom. During the third part, the performance of the different radiopharmaceuticals will be evaluated and in the last part all data allowing bringing the best candidate into an initial clinical study should be prepared. The overall goal of the project is to develop a new pharmaceutical, which provides novel diagnostic information on patients suffering from corresponding liver diseases and might improve planning and performance of the appropriate treatment regime.