# 18F Proline Preclinical PET Imaging In The Diagnosis of Early Stage Alcoholic Liver Fibrosis

> **NIH NIH K08** · UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE · 2020 · $190,512

## Abstract

This K08 application is submitted by Qi Cao, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Diagnostic Radiology and
Nuclear Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. My long term goal is to become an
independent investigator focusing on establishing a reliable and reproducible PET/CT technique to
noninvasively and specifically diagnose early-stage alcoholic liver fibrosis (ALF). Toward this goal, I propose a
mentored career development plan which provides the following training in: 1) preclinical experiments to
assess specific cellular tracer uptake in vitro, 2) in new radiotracer synthesis and preclinical imaging in order to
quantify biodistribution and dosimetry, and 3) in functional molecular imaging for the diagnosis of early stage
liver fibrosis.
SPECIFIC AIMS: The first aim is to evaluate the role of proline in collagen synthesis using 3H-labeled proline
in an in vitro culture system of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) isolated from livers of animals with alcoholic
steatosis (AS), alcoholic steatohepatitis (ASH), early stage alcoholic liver fibrosis (EAF), and late stage
alcoholic liver fibrosis (LAF) by using beta counting. The second aim is to establish dynamic 18F-proline PET
imaging to assess radiotracer biodistribution in 12 critical organs/tissues and to optimize dosing and timing
conditions which will translate this procedure to image ALF in animals with AS, ASH, EAF, and LAF as
described in Aim 3. The third aim is to study the role of 18F-proline in the diagnosis of early-stage liver fibrosis
in HSC from animals with AS, ASH, EAF, and LAF by static 18F-proline PET/CT imaging.
The proposed complementary approaches in the specific aims will help to: (1) establish important parameters
of 18F-proline labeling by optimizing tracer dosing and imaging timing conditions; and (2) determine the
experimental importance of 18F-proline in the assessment of collagen production in in vitro (aim 1) and in vivo
(aims 2 and 3) models, which will provide a new means to assess early liver fibrosis in patients with ALD. This
line of investigation will use functional imaging to fill critical gaps in the mechanism of in vivo collagen
production, which will further our understanding of liver disease and advance clinic treatment by providing a
noninvasive means to diagnose early-stage liver fibrosis at a stage before damage becomes permanent.
Through intensive training in the application of non-invasive molecular imaging to ALD, I will gain the expertise
required of an independent investigator to apply molecular imaging to the study and diagnosis of liver disease.
RELEVANCE: The project will use noninvasive 18F-proline PET/CT imaging to correlate radiotracer
incorporation activity within scar formation cells with scar collagen formation. The ability to image scar
formation will provide valuable data to enable the development of this technique for noninvasive identification
of early-stage liver disease during routine patient care, which will greatly adva...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9984830
- **Project number:** 5K08AA024895-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE
- **Principal Investigator:** Qi Cao
- **Activity code:** K08 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $190,512
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-08-01 → 2022-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9984830

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9984830, 18F Proline Preclinical PET Imaging In The Diagnosis of Early Stage Alcoholic Liver Fibrosis (5K08AA024895-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9984830. Licensed CC0.

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