# PET imaging of radiation induced lung injury

> **NIH NIH R44** · COLLAGEN MEDICAL, LLC · 2022 · $1,191,390

## Abstract

Project Summary
With 2.1 million new cases in 2018, and 1.8 million deaths, lung cancer is the most common cancer in the world.
Radiation therapy is the standard of care for inoperable non-small cell lung cancer and confers a significant
survival benefit. Unfortunately, an important side effect of radiation therapy for cancer is Radiation Induced Lung
Injury (RILI) - the direct tissue injury due to DNA damage and free radical injury, as well as the subsequent
inflammatory response caused by exposure of the lungs to ionizing radiation. 50-76% of patients undergoing
radiation therapy for lung cancer each year develop some form of radiation injury as seen on surveillance
imaging. Not only is RILI a significant source of morbidity and mortality, but the lung’s sensitivity to radiation
limits the amount of radiation which can be given to treat cancer. RILI can be divided into two phases: 1) Acute
pneumonitis (1-6 months post-radiation) causing lung inflammation and edema which may require hospitalization
and rarely is fatal. 2) Chronic fibrosis phase (months to years post radiation) during which smoldering
inflammation causes fibrotic tissue to replace normal lung tissue and results in significant morbidity. Currently,
RILI diagnosis is based on clinical history, symptoms, lung function tests, and chest imaging. RILI is typically a
diagnosis of exclusion after recurrent malignancy and infection have been ruled out and rarely may require an
invasive lung tissue biopsy to exclude alternative etiologies. At best, we can use the current tools to diagnose
the presence of RILI, but we are unable to: 1) accurately quantify the severity and distribution of RILI 2)
repeatedly assess disease activity and progression. This proposal aims to addresses these unmet needs through
non-invasive molecular imaging of type 1 collagen, which is prevalent in active fibrotic disease such as RILI.
We hypothesize that a newly developed positron emission tomography probe, 68Ga-CBP8, targeted to type I
collagen, will enable earlier detection and accurate quantification of RILI. We further hypothesize that the use of
this new targeted imaging approach will allow to better predict disease progression and thus ultimately help to
identify which patients may benefit from early treatment. The affinity and specificity of 68Ga-CPB8 for type 1
collagen are well established and we have clinical experience with this agent in the imaging of idiopathic
pulmonary fibrosis. Here, for the first time, we propose to use the agent to image radiation-induced lung injury.
The proposal is divided into two phases. First, we aim to establish that 68Ga-CPB8 specifically accumulates in
regions of RILI and can be imaged with PET. Subjects that underwent radiation therapy for lung cancer and are
known to have RILI will be imaged in this proof-of-concept aim and results will be compared to high-resolution
computed tomography (HRTC) images. We will conduct this study under a current IND held at Massachusetts...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10652691
- **Project number:** 4R44CA250771-02
- **Recipient organization:** COLLAGEN MEDICAL, LLC
- **Principal Investigator:** Valerie Humblet
- **Activity code:** R44 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $1,191,390
- **Award type:** 4N
- **Project period:** 2020-05-04 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10652691

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10652691, PET imaging of radiation induced lung injury (4R44CA250771-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10652691. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*