Molecular Imaging in Cancer Drug Development

Targeted CE per ARRT’s Discipline, Category, and Subcategory classification for enrollments starting after December 10, 2024:
[Note: Discipline-specific Targeted CE credits may be less than the total Category A credits approved for this course.]

Nuclear Medicine Technology: 0.50
Procedures: 0.50
Radionuclides and Radiopharmaceuticals: 0.25
Endocrine and Oncology Procedures: 0.25

Outline

1. Introduction
2. Search Strategy
3. General Introduction to Imaging Modalities
4. Molecular Imaging Using Small-Molecule Cancer Drugs
   1. EGFR Inhibitors
   2. ALK Inhibitors
   3. PARP Inhibitors
5. Molecular Imaging with mAbs
   1. Growth Factor Receptors
   2. Immunooncology
   3. ADCs
   4. Blood-Brain Barrier
6. Antihormonal Therapy and ¹⁸F-FES PET or ¹⁸F-FDHT PET
7. Optical Imaging in Drug Development
8. Conclusion and Future Directions

Objectives

Upon completion of this course, students will:

1. be familiar with the median cost for new cancer drug approval
2. be familiar with the three phases of new cancer exploration
3. understand the advantages of molecular imaging in the development of new cancer drugs
4. be familiar with the advantages PET imaging offers in development of new cancer drugs
5. be familiar with radionuclides used in SPECT imaging
6. recognize the advantages of ⁸⁹Zr for mAb imaging
7. be familiar with the definition of a microdose
8. be able to identify examples of radiolabeled small-molecule cancer drugs
9. be familiar with first-generation EGFR inhibitors
10. be familiar with ¹⁸F-IRS as a novel radiotracer to image EGFR
11. be familiar with most commonly used EGFR TKIs in NSCLC patients
12. recognize the early success of using osimertinib for brain metastases
13. be familiar with the advantages of using EGFR-TKI PET in CNS imaging
14. be familiar with the percentage of NSCLC patients with a genetic aberration involving ALK
15. be able to identify a third-generation ALK inhibitor
16. be familiar with common metastatic sites for patients with NSCLC
17. be familiar with the radiolabeled PARP inhibitor ¹⁸F-fluorthanatrace
18. be familiar with the biological half-life of mAbs
19. be able to identify the targets for mAbs
20. be familiar with the prerequisites for mAb to work properly
21. be familiar with the radiolabeled mAb that has been studied extensively in patients with HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer.
22. be familiar with the use of ¹¹¹In-trastuzumab SPECT imaging
23. be familiar with the targets for visualization when using ⁸⁹Zr-bevacizumab
24. recognize the advantages of using humanized mice when predicting drug behavior in humans
25. be familiar with the effects of ADCs
26. identify the combination of imaging studies used to predict which patients will not benefit from trastuzumab emtansine treatment
27. be familiar with the percentage of breast cancers that express ER
28. be familiar with the research being conducted on the use of ¹⁸F-FES PET to gain whole-body information on ER expression
29. be familiar with the use of ¹⁸F-FDHT to assess pharmacodynamics during hormonal therapy in prostate cancer patients
30. understand the advantages of using a toolbox of techniques to explore cancer drug development