Novel PET agent reveals inflammation in Alzheimer’s brain

A new method of Alzheimer’s imaging has arrived with an investigative agent that reveals neuro-inflammation via microglia expression of the protein TSPO, according to a scientific presentation Nov. 17 during Neuroscience 2014, the meeting of the Society of Neuroscience, in Chicago.

For now, the tracer is being called F-18 GE180 and it seeks out and attaches to TSPO prior to PET imaging. For this study, researchers conducted preclinical imaging of mice and found significantly higher uptake of the agent in brains of Alzheimer’s subjects than in controls. This was particularly the case in the cortex and hippocampus.

Researchers including Cynthia Lemere, PhD, from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, led the research.  

“One of the advantages of this new tracer is that it has high uptake and very specific binding in the brain,” said Lemere in a press release. “That makes it particularly helpful, for it means we’re actually observing the tracer’s signals during the PET scan and not signals from other molecules unrelated to inflammation.”

This study was funded in part by GE Healthcare. The imaging agent will have to go through phase III human trials and achieve FDA approval before it could be used in clinical practice as an agent for Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis, progression or therapy monitoring.