Irradiation of rat brain reduces P-glycoprotein expression and function.

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) hampers delivery of several drugs including chemotherapeutics to the brain. The drug efflux pump P-glycoprotein (P-gp), expressed on brain capillary endothelial cells, is part of the BBB. P-gp expression on capillary endothelium decreases 5 days after brain irradiation, which may reduce P-gp function and increase brain levels of P-gp substrates.

Early FDG-PET assessment in combination with clinical risk scores determines prognosis in recurring lymphoma.

This study was set up to demonstrate whether prognostic classification based on the secondary age-adjusted International Prognostic Index (sAA-IPI) for recurring aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) or the prognostic score for recurring Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) can be improved by including the midtreatment results of fluorine-18-fluorodeoxy-glucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET). Clinical data on patients with recurring lymphoma who were treated with second-line chemotherapy (DHAP-VIM-DHAP) followed by autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) were collected and combined with the results of FDG-PET performed before and after 2 cycles of reinduction chemotherapy. PET responses after 2 courses were scored as complete remission (CR), partial remission (PR), or no response (NR).

The role of serial pre-transplantation positron emission tomography in predicting progressive disease in relapsed lymphoma.

Background And Objectives: 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) appears to be an excellent tool for evaluating early response to chemotherapy in lymphoma patients. As only chemosensitive patients with relapsed lymphoma may benefit from ablative therapy and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT), PET may be used to select patients for ASCT. A prospective study was performed to investigate the optimal time point of pre-transplantation PET, using different PET-parameters.

18F-FEAU as a radiotracer for herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase gene expression: in-vitro comparison with other PET tracers.

Objective: The herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSVtk) gene has frequently been applied as a reporter gene for monitoring transgene expression in animal models. In clinical gene therapy protocols, however, extremely low expression levels of the transferred gene are generally observed. Consequently, sensitive and selective radiotracers for imaging are required.

The human norepinephrine transporter in combination with 11C-m-hydroxyephedrine as a reporter gene/reporter probe for PET of gene therapy.

Unlabelled: Although the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase gene has been frequently applied as a reporter gene for monitoring gene transfection in animals, it has some intrinsic limitations for use in humans. In our search for a reporter gene that lacks these limitations, we have evaluated the feasibility of the human norepinephrine transporter (hNET) as a reporter gene in combination with the reporter probe 11C-m-hydroxyephedrine (mHED) for PET.

Methods: An adenoviral vector (AdTrack-hNET) containing the hNET gene as reporter gene and the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) as a substitute for a therapeutic gene was constructed.