Summary

Liver cancer is the second most lethal malignancy worldwide, and its incidence is only rising due to the obesity epidemic. Current imaging cannot diagnose liver cancer until it has reached the size of a nickel and consists of over a billion cancer cells. This results in missed treatment opportunities and poor patient outcomes.

The Illuminator, an advanced imaging technology that you can help develop through this crowdfunding project, will increase diagnostic accuracy and speed, potentially saving millions of lives around the world.

Liver cancer diagnosis: what we’re missing

In the U.S., the recent epidemic rise in liver cancer is attributed to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a condition that develops because of obesity and diabetes. Two-thirds of Americans are either overweight or obese, and with obesity rates skyrocketing across the world, liver cancer is a true global health crisis.

Early and accurate diagnosis of liver cancer is challenging. The standard computed tomography (CT) scan or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) cannot diagnose liver tumors smaller than a nickel — and by the time a liver tumor is that size, it already contains more than a billion cancer cells.

Consequently, up to half of liver cancers are missed in the early stage, and inaccurate scans harm the patient. Repeat imaging is costly, time-consuming, and exposes the patient to additional CT radiation, while invasive biopsies carry risks such as hemorrhage or tumor seeding. Delays in diagnosis result in missed treatment opportunities, which worsen the patient’s prognosis.

Liver resection and transplantation are the two potentially curative therapies for liver cancer, and planning for both are based on CT and MRI findings. Small cancers missed by these scans prior to treatment result in early cancer recurrences and suboptimal transplant organ allocation — both poor outcomes for the patient.

Creating better imaging for liver cancer

As a surgical oncologist who specializes in treating liver cancer, I knew there had to be a better way. Dr. Minoshima and I set out to create an imaging tool that could detect liver cancers earlier and before they spread. We developed a novel imaging contrast agent using an antibody that can seek out and precisely pinpoint miniscule liver cancers and illuminate them on positron emission tomography (PET) scan with a special radioisotope. We’ve named this breakthrough technology the “Illuminator.”

Our lab’s Illuminator is able to detect liver cancers several times smaller than what is possible by CT or MRI. The first-ever PET study of liver cancer in mice using the Illuminator was recently published in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine. We are now ready to perform the first human clinical PET scan using this contrast agent. We believe that the Illuminator could be a revolutionary diagnostic tool for liver cancer, as the antigen the Illuminator recognizes is found in up to 80 percent of liver cancers.

With your support, our lab can take the first step towards bringing the Illuminator to the American public. We need $10,000 for filing an investigator-initiated Radioactive Drug Research Committee application with the FDA and begin development of a clinical-grade Illuminator that meets good manufacturing practice standards.

Please join us in bringing the Illuminator to our patients. Liver cancer is the world’s second most deadly form of cancer, a statistic that unfortunately will only worsen due to increasing obesity rates. It is essential that we develop this diagnostic tool as quickly as possible so that liver cancer can be detected in its earliest stage. The Illuminator will significantly expedite accurate diagnosis and staging, resulting in more treatment options and the potential of saving millions of lives.