PET Imaging Agent Developed for Early Diagnosis of Malignant Melanoma Trials

Scientists in Australia are reporting on the development and evaluation in laboratory animals of a potential new material for diagnosing malignant melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer.

The study's findings were published in the August 19, 2009, issue of the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. Dr. Ivan Greguric and colleagues working within the Cooperative Research Consortium for Biomedical Imaging Develop, an Australian Government-funded research group, and from the Radiopharmaceuticals Research Institute, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (Sydney, Australia) and the Center for Molecular Imaging, The Peter MacCallum Cancer Center, East Melbourne, Australia; ) noted that approximately 130,000 new cases of malignant melanoma occur each year worldwide. Patients do best with early diagnosis and prompt treatment. The positron emission tomography (PET) imaging scans, sometimes utilized for diagnosis, occasionally miss small tumors, delaying diagnosis and treatment.

The scientists' hunt for better ways of diagnosis led them to a new group of radioactive imaging agents, called fluoronicotinamides, which they tested in laboratory mice that had melanoma. The most promising compound revealed melanoma cells with greater accuracy than imaging agents now in use, the scientists reported. As a result, this substance could become a "superior” PET imaging agent for improving the diagnosis and monitoring the effectiveness of treatment of melanoma, they reported.

Clinical trials with this new agent are now scheduled for 2010, according to the researchers.

Related Links:
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization
Peter MacCallum Cancer Center