Novel radiopharmaceuticals for molecular imaging and therapy of adrenocortical tumors
Principal Investigators
Prof. Dr. med.
Stefanie Hahner
Uniklinikum Würzburg
Deputy Head of the Dept. of Endocrinology and Diabetology
Professor of Endocrinology (W2)
Department of Medicine I, Endocrinology and Diabetology
Hahner_S[at]ukw.de
Dr. rer. nat.
Andreas Schirbel
Uniklinikum Würzburg
Radiochemist/Radiopharmacist; Research Group Leader Department of Nuclear Medicine
Schirbel_A[at]ukw.de
Dr. med.
Carmina Teresa Fuß
Uniklinikum Würzburg
Assistant Physician
Department of Medicine I, Endocrinology and Diabetology
Fuss_C[at]ukw.de
Scientific Staff
Britta Heinze – Postdoc
Magdalena Schneider – Postdoc
Project Description
Project B13 aims at the development of radiolabelled CYP enzyme inhibitors for the diagnostic evaluation of adrenocortical tumours and for radiotherapy of adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC). In the first part of the project, we will continue to develop specific CYP11B2-inhibitors for the non-invasive differentiation between bilateral hyperplasia and aldosterone producing adenomas in primary aldosteronism. The second part of the project focuses on the development of labelled CYP17-inhibitors for theranostics of indeterminate adrenal tumours and ACC. Even though theranostic radiopharmaceuticals, such as [123/131I]iodometomidate and [123/131I]IMAZA have already been developed by us, the higher expression of CYP17 compared with CYP11B promises further improvement of these radiopharmaceuticals.
Aims
(I) Establish and optimise (radio)synthesis of additional and improved fluorinated and iodinated derivatives of known CYP17 inhibitors
(II) Evaluate novel CYP17- and CYP11B2 inhibitors in vitro
(III) Explore the most promising radiolabelled CYP17- and CYP11B2-inhibitors in available humanised animal models