Collagen type I PET/MRI enables evaluation of treatment response in pancreatic cancer in pre-clinical and first-in-human translational studies.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is an invasive and rapidly progressive malignancy. A major challenge in patient management is the lack of a reliable imaging tool to monitor tumor response to treatment. Tumor-associated fibrosis characterized by high type I collagen is a hallmark of PDAC, and fibrosis further increases in response to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT). We hypothesized that molecular positron emission tomography (PET) using a type I collagen-specific imaging probe, ⁶⁸Ga-CBP8 can detect and measure changes in tumor fibrosis in response to standard treatment in mouse models and patients with PDAC. Methods: We evaluated the specificity of ⁶⁸Ga-CBP8 PET to tumor collagen and its ability to differentiate responders from non-responders based on the dynamic changes of fibrosis in nude mouse models of human PDAC including FOLFIRNOX-sensitive (PANC-1 and PDAC6) and FOLFIRINOX-resistant (SU.86.86). Next, we demonstrated the specificity and sensitivity of ⁶⁸Ga-CBP8 to the deposited collagen in resected human PDAC and pancreas tissues. Eight male participant (49-65 y) with newly diagnosed PDAC underwent dynamic ⁶⁸Ga-CBP8 PET/MRI, and five underwent follow up ⁶⁸Ga-CBP8 PET/MRI after completing standard CRT. PET parameters were correlated with tumor collagen content and markers of response on histology. Results: ⁶⁸Ga-CBP8 showed specific binding to PDAC compared to non-binding ⁶⁸Ga-CNBP probe in two mouse models of PDAC using PET imaging and to resected human PDAC using autoradiography (P < 0.05 for all comparisons). ⁶⁸Ga-CBP8 PET showed 2-fold higher tumor signal in mouse models following FOLFIRINOX treatment in PANC-1 and PDAC6 models (P < 0.01), but no significant increase after treatment in FOLFIRINOX resistant SU.86.86 model. ⁶⁸Ga-CBP8 binding to resected human PDAC was significantly higher (P < 0.0001) in treated versus untreated tissue. PET/MRI of PDAC patients prior to CRT showed significantly higher ⁶⁸Ga-CBP8 uptake in tumor compared to pancreas (SUV_mean: 2.35 ± 0.36 vs. 1.99 ± 0.25, P = 0.036, n = 8). PET tumor values significantly increased following CRT compared to untreated tumors (SUV_mean: 2.83 ± 0.30 vs. 2.25 ± 0.41, P = 0.01, n = 5). Collagen deposition significantly increased in response to CRT (59 ± 9% vs. 30 ± 9%, P=0.0005 in treated vs. untreated tumors). Tumor and pancreas collagen content showed a positive direct correlation with SUV_mean (R² = 0.54, P = 0.0007). Conclusions: This study demonstrates the specificity of ⁶⁸Ga-CBP8 PET to tumor type I collagen and its ability to differentiate responders from non-responders based on the dynamic changes of fibrosis in PDAC. The results highlight the potential use of collagen PET as a non-invasive tool for monitoring response to treatment in patients with PDAC.