Hosted by Mason Mitchell-Daniels, LBCA’s COO and Director of Research, the interview featured an in-depth conversation between LBCA patient advocate Jade Moran and Dr. Sutcliffe, the SNMMI Mars Shot awardee. Together, they discussed early findings from Dr. Sutcliffe’s innovative imaging study, what they could mean for patients living with metastatic ILC, and how advances in “theranostics” may help usher in a new era of personalized treatment.
Dr. Sutcliffe explained that her laboratory was not originally focused on lobular breast cancer but surprising results from an imaging study changed that. While testing a new imaging agent in patients with several different cancer types, they found that when it was used with a woman with suspected recurrent ILC the experimental scan revealed widespread metastatic disease that had been largely missed by an FDG PET scan, the current standard of care. Dr. Sutcliffe and her team were quickly convinced that they should expand their research to include a focus on finding better ways to image lobular breast cancer.
Today, their earlier work has evolved into a clinical study evaluating an imaging agent or “tracer” that detects and targets a certain protein sometimes found on the surface of cancer cells including lobular. Their imaging study has shown encouraging early results in detecting metastatic lobular disease in many of the areas, such as the liver, bone and other organs in which lobular cancer cells are usually missed.
The process of using this imaging agent is part of the nuclear medicine field known as theranostics. “Theranostics” combines “therapy” and “diagnostics,” and describes a process that does just that. It uses an imaging agent administered to a patient intravenously to: 1) diagnose – image a patient’s cancer cells and determine whether they contain a treatable target, and 2) treat – those cancer cell targets with a radioactive treatment.
Dr. Sutcliffe explained that in their diagnostic study, if imaging confirms the target is present on the cancer cells, eligible patients might then be able to enroll in a companion therapeutic clinical trial evaluating a treatment being tested to see if it will destroy the cancer cell target.
In querying Dr. Sutcliffe, ILC Patient advocate Jade Moran highlighted the unique imaging challenges faced by lobular patients and asked questions about how this type of improved imaging could affect treatment decisions, clinical trial participation, and quality of life for people living with ILC. She also asked what it might mean for improving treatment for early stage ILC. The discussion also underscored the important role patients can and should continue to play in advancing ILC research. Dr. Sutcliffe shared that four of the first five participants in the imaging study found the trial themselves, often through the lobular breast cancer community, and traveled a distance to participate. Their dogged commitment reflects the significant unmet need for better imaging for ILC and the determination of the ILC community to accelerate progress.
While additional studies are still needed, Dr. Sutcliffe hopes to eventually evaluate this technology in earlier-stage disease, where improved imaging could guide treatment decisions sooner. For the lobular breast cancer community, these early findings represent another encouraging step toward more accurate detection with imaging and personalized treatment.