18F-FLT as a Biological Marker for HCC following Locoregional Therapy.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
18F-Fluorothymidine as an in-vivo biological marker for hepatocellular carcinoma following locoregional therapy.
IRAS ID
162179
Contact name
Wendy Phillips
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
The incidence rate of hepatocellular carcinoma has increased three fold between the mid 1970’s to 2010 for the patient population in the UK. Many of the patients would present late in the disease and may not be suitable for liver resection or transplantation. Fortunately, there have been rapid advances in imaged guided minimally invasive locoregional therapy.
However, there is marked variability of response of HCC to locoregional therapy with some patients demonstrating very short progress free survival times. The tumour response to LRT is usually performed following the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumours (RECIST) and European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) guidelines. Unfortunately, the current histological and pathological evaluation is still partial and may underestimate HCC tumour staging by up to 40% of the cases. 2
18F-FLT is a relatively new clinical pharmaceutical for clinical PET which measures cell proliferation status. Preliminary studies have demonstrated its feasibility in use for patients with suspected HCC3 and potential as an early marker of HCC response from anti-cancer therapy in a hepatoma-bearing mouse model4. Therefore it holds the highest promise as a clinically available marker that may be used to monitor HCC tumour proliferation pre and post LRT, which may significantly impact on patient management and/or NHS resource allocation.
In this pilot study, we will be evaluating the effectiveness of 18F-FLT as an in-vivo metabolic marker of HCC tumour response to transarterial embolism (TAE), as well as its potential as an independent prognostic indicator of the individual’s HCC proliferative activity.
REC name
East of England - Cambridge East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/EE/0266
Date of REC Opinion
12 Oct 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion