Development of a novel liver-specific positron emission tomography tracer

Liver diseases affect nearly 4.5 million individuals in the United States. Clinicians utilize various imaging modalities (ultrasound, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging) to assess liver structure and presence of liver cancer. These modalities have a high degree of accuracy for identifying and characterizing liver cancer within the liver. However, the current imaging techniques lack the sensitivity for detecting metastatic tumors outside of the liver. Timely detections of these metastatic lesions have significant clinical implications relating to surgical management or liver transplantation. We have developed a liver-specific PET tracer which we hypothesize would provide a higher sensitivity for detecting tumors at a smaller size compared to the currently used imaging modalities. We anticipate that this tracer will also have non-oncologic applications such as assessment of liver function and biliary tract pathology. In this proposal, we aim to complete the preclinical testing and investigational new drug (IND)- enabling studies in preparation for first-in-human clinical trials. Project Number: 1R41CA298176-01A1 | Fiscal Year: 2025 | NIH Institute/Center: National Cancer Institute (NCI) | Principal Investigator: Khashayar Vakili | Institution: ZEEST BIO INC, WATERTOWN, MA | Award Amount: $400,000 | Activity Code: R41 | Study Section: Special Emphasis Panel[ZRG1 CTH-E (11)] View on NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11183309