Academic-Industrial Partnership to Develop Clinical Brain Cancer Imaging

描述(由申请人提供)：约翰霍普金斯大学和飞利浦医疗保健/飞利浦研究公司的研究人员建立的这项学术-产业合作伙伴关系的总体目标是开发和优化新型的酰胺质子转移(APT)成像技术，用于高效可靠地检测恶性脑肿瘤和评估治疗反应。APT成像可以提供与组织中移动蛋白含量相关的内源性对比。临床前研究和临床数据表明，APT成像可以提供关于脑肿瘤存在和分级的独特信息，如MRI引导的蛋白质组学和活体磁共振波谱所揭示的那样。值得注意的是，我们最近在动物模型中证明了APT-MRI信号是区分放射性坏死和活动性肿瘤组织的唯一成像生物标记物。与其他MRI技术类似，APT成像的最终目标是在临床环境中标准化使用。然而，目前的APT成像协议还远远没有得到优化。一个主要原因是APT实验参数经常受到扫描仪硬件约束的限制，特别是在放大器占空比和特定吸收率要求方面。除了脉冲序列参数不同，导致效应大小不一致外，数据处理策略也不同，可能会影响不同医院结果的重复性。因此，工业界和学术界迫切需要共同努力，将这项新兴技术开发成临床上可行、易于使用和可重复使用的方法。为了实现这一目标，我们(JHU和飞利浦的研究人员)同意建立合作关系，以实现加速的APT翻译。我们共同制定了以下两个具体目标：(1)优化和标准化3T人类MRI系统上的APT成像技术；(2)在脑瘤患者身上测试目标1中开发的方法。APT成像有可能将一种全新的分子磁共振成像方法引入临床，可以非侵入性地检测生物组织中的内源性细胞蛋白信号。这项研究将提供将这项新技术转化为临床所需的标准优化方法。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall goal of this academic-industrial partnership between researchers at Johns Hopkins University and Philips Healthcare/Philips Research is to develop and optimize the novel amide proton transfer (APT) imaging technique for efficient and reliable detection of malignant brain tumors and assessment of treatment response. APT imaging can provide endogenous contrast related to mobile protein content in tissue. Preclinical studies and clinical data suggest that APT imaging may provide unique information about the presence and grade of brain tumors, as revealed by MRI-guided proteomics and in vivo MR spectroscopy. Notably, we recently demonstrated in animal models that the APT-MRI signal is a unique imaging biomarker to distinguish between radiation necrosis and active tumor tissue. Similar to other MRI techniques, the ultimate goal for APT imaging is the standardized use in a clinical setting. However, current APT imaging protocols are far from being optimized. A main reason is that the APT experimental parameters are often limited by scanner hardware constraints, particularly with respect to amplifier duty-cycle and specific absorption rate requirements. In addition to pulse sequence parameter differences, leading to inconsistent effect sizes, data processing strategies vary and may affect the reproducibility of results between hospitals. Therefore, there is an urgent need for industry and academia to work together to develop this emerging technology into a clinically viable, easy-to-use, and reproducible approach. To accomplish this, we (researchers at JHU and Philips) agreed to establish a cooperation to achieve an accelerated APT translation. Together, we formulated the following two specific aims: (1) Optimize and standardize APT imaging technology on 3T human MRI systems; and (2) Test the methodologies developed in Aim 1 on patients with brain tumors. APT imaging has the potential to introduce an entirely new molecular MRI methodology into the clinic that can detect endogenous cellular protein signals in biological tissue non-invasively. Thi research will provide the standard optimized approaches required to translate this new technology into the clinic.