A new PET imaging biomarker, 18F-AlF-FAPI-74, has been found to effectively monitor and predict treatment response of an up-and-coming cancer therapy. This non-invasive imaging approach has the potential to help inform important clinical decision-making early in the course of treatment—including re-dosing of therapy, dose optimization, change of therapeutic course, and many more—to optimize patient outcomes. The research was presented at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging 2022 Annual Meeting.

Chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR T) therapy is a treatment that involves removing T cells from a patient’s body, engineering them in a lab, and then returning the T cells to the body to fight the specified disease. This type of therapy has had marked success in treating blood cancers but has not been as effective in treating solid tumors.

“Our understanding of why CAR T therapies are not as effective in solid tumors could be advanced by measuring CAR T-targeted antigens, such as the fibroblast activation protein (FAP), which is overproduced in many types of solid tumors,” said Iris Lee, PhD candidate at the University of Pennsylvania. “In this study, we used 18F-AlF-FAPI-74 PET to image FAP with the goal of providing information that could aid in the development and optimization of FAP CAR T cell treatment for solid tumors.”

Several experiments were conducted as part of the study. In the first, an in vitro cell uptake experiment was performed to test the binding of the 18F-AlF-FAPI-74 tracer in FAP-expressing cells. Next, the tracer uptake was assessed in two different tumor xenograft models (mesothelioma and adenocarcinoma). Finally, researchers evaluated whether 18F-AlF-FAPI-74 could detect FAP clearance as a way to monitor response to FAP CAR T cell treatment.

The cell uptake experiment demonstrated highly specific binding of 18F-AlF-FAPI-74 to FAP. For both xenograft models, a significant increase in 18F-AlF-FAPI-74 uptake in the tumor was noted relative to background tissues (e.g. muscle and blood). 18F-AlF-FAPI-74 PET was also able to successfully detect and image clearance of FAPcells from the tumor following an FAP CAR T cell treatment.

“Our work highlights the potential role of 18F-AlF-FAPI-74 as a predictive and pharmacodynamic imaging biomarker to guide patient selection and monitor therapeutic response to FAP-targeted therapies,” noted Lee.

She added, “In the current era of precision medicine where cancer therapies can be tailored based on the presence or absence of a biomarker, molecular imaging tools have the potential to add value to clinical care by helping to accurately monitor the target of interest and stratify patients for certain therapy based on the target expression level.”

Abstract 892. “Monitoring Therapeutic Response to FAP CAR T Cells using [18F]AlF-FAPI-74 PET,” Iris K. Lee, Department of Bioengineering and Department of Radiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Estela Noguera-Ortega and Maria Liousia,  Thoracic Oncology Research Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Zebin Xiao, Leslie Todd and Ellen Puré, Department of Biomedical Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Kexiang Xu, Kimberly J. Edwards, and Mark A. Sellmyer, Department of Radiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Steven Albelda, Thoracic Oncology Research Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Center for Cellular Immunotherapies, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.