PET Imaging Agent Identifies Recurrent Prostate Cancer

A diagnostic agent for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging can help identify suspected sites of prostate cancer recurrence.

Axumin (fluciclovine) is a synthetic L-leucine analogue radiolabeled with fluorine 18 (18F), which enters cells via amino acid transporters. Since tumor cells exhibit enhanced amino acid transport in order to help them access the materials they need to grow and spread, they take up Axumin more than healthy tissues, providing physicians with a better tool for locating recurrent prostate cancer sites, based on a detected rise in the levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA) following initial therapy.

Axumin has a short synthesis time and a long half-life, which eliminate the need for an onsite cyclotron during the PET scan. The distribution of Axumin in the body also differs from other tracers, with a low native brain uptake compared to Fludeoxyglucose (FDG). Axumin is a product of Blue Earth Diagnostics, and has been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“An imaging agent with sufficient diagnostic performance to adequately detect and localize recurrent prostate cancer can provide referring physicians with actionable information to guide biopsy, and inform management decisions for their patients,” said David Schuster, MD, director of the division of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging at Emory University (Atlanta, GA, USA). “The product will be convenient for patients and imaging facilities, as it can be made widely available and the entire imaging procedure can typically be completed in less than 30 minutes.”

A variety of imaging techniques and tests are currently used to diagnose and monitor prostate cancer, including PSA blood tests, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), PET, SPECT, and CT scans. Each method has strengths and weaknesses, but there is no single method that is able to successfully identify and monitor primary tumors, metastatic lymph nodes, and bone lesions, which can cause the patient to undergo unnecessary treatments or painful biopsies.