Clinical trials

Neuroblastoma is the most frequent extracranial childhood tumor, with an annual incidence of approximately 10.2 per million children. Staging of the disease can be done by different imaging strategies (CT, MRI, scintigraphy and PET/CT). Discrepancies may be observed among these different strategies resulting in different treatment strategies. The goal of this study is to assess the feasibility and safety of 68Ga-DOTATATE and to compare it to 123I-MIBG when investigating neuroblastoma.

A strategy to target the oncogenic receptor HER2 using a version of the anti-HER2 therapeutic antibody trastuzumab coupled to desferrioxamine (DFO) and radiolabeled with zirconium-89 (\[89Zr\]-DFO-trastuzumab) has been successfully evaluated in our group in preclinical settings. Clinical studies by other groups in recent years have shown the potential of targeting HER2+ lesions with \[89Zr\]-DFO-trastuzumab in patients with HER2+ cancers. We now want to establish the diagnostic potential of a protocol adding \[89Zr\]-DFO-trastuzumab PET imaging to FDG PET already used in the clinic for the detection of HER2-expressing cancers, including low expression levels considered until now as HER2-negative (HER2-low, IHC score 1+ and 2+ without FISH amplification of the HER2 locus). The HER2-low status has recently gained relevance thanks to large studies showing the efficacy of immunotherapy combined with drugs such as Enhertu (trastuzumab-deruxtecan), while trastuzumab alone was traditionally only effective for HER2+ cancers (IHC score 2+/FISH+, or 3+). In particular, we aim to develop a method to assess whole-body intertumoral heterogeneity in HER2 expression in order to detect cases with heterogeneous diseases and thus better stage patients and guide the optimal choice of personalized and targeted treatment to use. More specifically, the project aims to image with \[89Zr\]-DFO-trastuzumab PET patients with cancer, particularly breast cancer, but also esophageal, gastric, ovarian, endometrial and lung cancer, and whose primary tumor status is HER2-low.

This clinical trial is a pragmatic study aiming to evaluate the innocuity/safety profile of the PET radiotracer 68Ga-DOTA-TATE, and to establish the procedure as a routine standard-of-care diagnostic tool for all neuro-endocrine cancer patients. It is a single-center study, but with recruitment across all Canada. The trial is prospective, non-randomized, open-label and with no control group. The superiority of this procedure over the former standard-of-care (Octreoscan) was already established in previous and numerous studies across the world. As such, the current trial aims to gather data to further support the implementation of 68Ga-DOTA-TATE as the new standard-of-care for neuro-endocrine tumors (NET).

This project aims to monitor the innocuity/safety profile of cyclotron-produced \[68Ga\]-PSMA-617 PET imaging in PSMA-expressing cancers. It is a single-site, pragmatic, non-randomized and open-label study, with no control group. Although prostate cancers constitute the usual recommended population for this PET modality, recent evidences suggest that most solid tumors express substantial amount of PSMA in their neovasculature. As such, all cancers (excluding non-solid cancers) will be eligible for \[68Ga\]-PSMA-617 PET imaging in this trial, for as long as their tumors express PSMA. This study also aims to instigate the use of \[68Ga\]-PSMA-617 in the routine standard-of-care for detection and follow-up of eligible cancers. FInally, this project seeks to gather information about the impact on patient management this novel PET modality will have over the current standard-of-care.