# Optical Imaging to Improve Surgery & Targeted Therapy in Brain Tumors

> **NIH NIH R01** · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $613,821

## Abstract

PROJECT ABSTRACT
The overall survival and prognosis of patients suffering from brain tumors remain dismal; most patients die from
their disease. Hope for these patients depends on performing more accurate surgical resections and increasing
penetration of therapeutic drugs into the blood-brain barrier. We propose to use an antibody-based imaging
strategy to improve extent of tumor resection and to develop new methods to quantify and increase the efficiency
of antibody delivery in this devastating disease.
We propose to use an antibody (panitumumab) targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) labeled
with a near-infrared fluorophore (IRDye800) to conduct a first-in-human trial in brain tumor patients scheduled to
undergo surgical resection. For our clinical study, we will first evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of
panitumumab-IRDye800 to detect brain tumors at different doses of the study drug and assess its safety. Then
we propose to quantitate antibody delivery into tumor and peritumoral tissue and correlate with pre-surgical
imaging to predict increased antibody delivery. Furthermore, we will determine if manipulation of the blood-brain
barrier can improve delivery of antibody into the tumor, leveraging the use of fluorescently labeled antibodies to
track antibody delivery into the tumor. Through this application, we hope to improve tumor visualization during
surgery and to develop techniques to predict antibody delivery to brain tumors. This would be the first time that
a fluorescently-labeled antibody is used for real-time intraoperative imaging and quantification of antibody
delivery to human brain tumors.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10244944
- **Project number:** 5R01CA239257-03
- **Recipient organization:** STANFORD UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Gordon Li
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $613,821
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-02 → 2024-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10244944

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10244944, Optical Imaging to Improve Surgery & Targeted Therapy in Brain Tumors (5R01CA239257-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10244944. Licensed CC0.

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