ROLE OF CYPA AS A MOLECULAR IMAGING OR THERAPEUTIC TARGET

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The role of Cyclophilin A (CypA) is unknown in cancer. Using lung cancer cells which have CypA expression knocked down and control cells with endogenous CypA levels, we have performed in vitro assays and are completing in vivo assays of tumorigenesis with subcutaneous xenografts in SCID mice. This protein may be a useful target for molecular imaging and therapeutics. However, given the unknown role of CypA, it is crucial that we use available resources to get as much data as possible beyond these traditional methods. The high quality PET imaging equipment in the Duke Center for In Vivo Microscopy will allow us to examine the in vivo role of CypA in ways complementary to traditional pathology. Using FDG-PET, we may compare tumor size, function, and metabolic activity between knockdown and control animals. We may also compare the presence and degree of metastases from the primary subcutaneous xenograft to distant sites between knockdown and control animals, an experiment uniquely suited to FDG-PET imaging. The procedure entails a tail vein injection of FDG, and a PET scan, is relatively non-invasive, and should not cause undue harm to the animal