Development of novel Positron Emission Tomography (PET) radiotracers to study the biological processes that are characteristic of tumour cells.
Development, validation and/or qualification of existing PET radiotracers so that they can be used as predictive, prognostic, pharmacological and/or surrogate response biomarkers in oncology patients.
Current Research
Current projects involve tracers to study cell proliferation, hypoxia and angiogenesis.
Collaborations
Prof Fiona Gilbert, University of Cambridge
Prof Paula Ghaneh, University of Liverpool
Prof David O'Hagan, University of St Andrews
Kemotech, Italy
Funding and Grants
Current Grants:
Validation of FLT-PET as a predictive biomarker in breast cancer (Cancer Research UK)
18F-fluoroazomycin-arabinofuranoside (FAZA) as a PET tracer in the detection of tumour hypoxia in patients with colorectal carcinoma: A pilot study (NHS Grampian Endowment)
Detection of hypoxia in breast cancer with Fluoroazomycin arabinoside (FAZA) analogues (Breast Cancer Campaign)
Studying the effect of different hypoxic subtypes on anti-cancer therapeutics in breast cancer cells (NHS Grampian Endowment)
Developing a novel αvβ3 radiotracer to report on tumour angiogenesis (Knowledge Exchange Transfer Fund)
Development of 18F-labelled PET tracer for preclinical HER2 imaging of gastroesophageal adenocarcinomas (NHS Grampian Endowment)
A localized tolerance in the substrate specificity of the fluorinase enzyme enables "last-step" 18F fluorination of a RGD peptide under ambient aqueous conditions
Thompson, S., Zhang, Q., Onega, M., McMahon, S., Fleming, I., Ashworth, S., Naismith, J. H., Passchier, J., O'Hagan, D.
Angewandte Chemie International Edition, vol. 53, no. 34, pp. 8913-8918
Early changes in [18F] FDG incorporation by breast cancer cells treated with trastuzumab in normoxic conditions: Role of the Akt-pathway, glucose transport and HIF-1α
Fleming, I. N., Andriu, A., Smith, T. A. D.
Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, vol. 144, no. 4, pp. 241-248
Tumour expression of leptin is associated with chemotherapy resistance and therapy-independent prognosis in gastro-oesophageal adenocarcinomas
Bain, G. H., Collie-Duguid, E., Murray, G. I., Gilbert, F. J., Denison, A., McKiddie, F., Ahearn, T., Fleming, I., Leeds, J., Phull, P., Park, K., Nanthakumaran, S., Grabsch, H. I., Tan, P., Welch, A., Schweiger, L., Dahle-Smith, A., Urquhart, G., Finegan, M., Matula, K. M., Petty, R. D.
British Journal of Cancer, vol. 110, no. 6, pp. 1525-1534
Response to trastuzumab by HER2 expressing breast tumour xenografts is accompanied by decreased Hexokinase II, glut1 and [18F]-FDG incorporation and changes in 31P-NMR detectable phosphomonesters
Smith, T. A. D., Appleyard, M. V. C. L., Sharp, S., Fleming, I. N., Murray, K., Thompson, A. M.
Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology, vol. 71, no. 2, pp. 473-480
Recommendations for measurement of tumour vascularity with positron emission tomography in early phase clinical trials
Aboagye, E. O., Gilbert, F. J., Fleming, I. N., Beer, A. J., Cunningham, V. J., Marsden, P. K., Visvikis, D., Gee, A. D., Groves, A. M., Kenny, L. M., Cook, G. J., Kinahan, P. E., Myers, M., Clarke, L., Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre 13 Imaging Network Group
