On April 26, 2024 The research team of Professor Min Jeong-jun and Kang Se-ryeong of the Department of Nuclear Medicine at Hwasun Chonnam National University Hospital recently reported the company developed the world’s first ‘positron emission tomography (PET) molecular imaging technology’ that visualizes bacteria for cancer treatment (Press release, CNCure, APR 26, 2020, View Source [SID1234649029]).
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This technology is registered as a domestic patent, and overseas patents are also being applied for. This research was first introduced in the online version of ‘Theranostics’ (impact factor 8.063), an authoritative international academic journal in the field of molecular imaging diagnosis and treatment, and is scheduled to be published as a cover paper in the upcoming June issue.
The research team succeeded in visualizing E. coli injected into the body for cancer treatment using radioactive sorbitol. Based on the fact that ‘sorbitol’, a substance produced by reducing glucose, is used as a nutrient for gram-negative intestinal bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella, they attempted PET imaging by producing sorbitol containing radioactive fluorine.
This sorbitol PET accurately showed the distribution of E. coli injected for treatment purposes in the body. It was analyzed that the greater the amount of sorbitol consumed in the tumor, the greater the cancer suppression effect.
In cell therapy using living immune cells or microorganisms, the distribution of the therapeutic agent in the tumor is very important. In other words, the therapeutic cells must be concentrated in the tumor area and removed from other organs in the body for the treatment to be effective and safe. Therefore, a molecular imaging technique that can evaluate the distribution of the therapeutic agent in the body in a non-invasive way that does not penetrate the skin is a very important technology that determines the success or failure of this treatment. Until now, in order to visualize bacteria for cancer treatment, it was necessary to artificially express image reporter genes, but in this study, visualization was successfully achieved using the unique mechanism of therapeutic bacteria without additional genetic manipulation, and the possibility of future clinical application is very high. This study was conducted with the support of the Ministry of Science and ICT’s Future Promising Convergence Technology Pioneer Project and the Ministry of Education’s Science and Technology Individual Basic Research Support Project. Reporter Jang Jong-ho [email protected]