Clinical studies

We provide bespoke imaging agents for clinical research carried out at UCL, UCL Hospitals and partner institutions, and radiotracers developed in-house at the CRC into first in human studies.

Image-Derived Enzymatic Adrenal Lateralisation (IDEAL)

Hypertension is a leading cause of premature morbidity and death globally. Although life-style changes and medication can be effective, elevated blood pressure due to secondary disease is difficult to control. This is particularly the case for primary hyperaldosteronism (PHA), which is characterized by excessive aldosterone production by the adrenal gland/s. PHA occurs in 5–10% of patients with hypertension, and in 15–25% of those with treatment resistant hypertension. Although PHA is recognized to be the most common, potentially curable cause of secondary hypertension, only a few patients receive appropriate treatment and care as there are no practical methods to identify those who are likely to benefit from curative surgery.

We have developed AldoView, a new radiotracer labelled with fluorine-18, for imaging with positron emission tomography (PET). In preclinical studies in mice, AldoView showed a favourable pharmacokinetic profile. The tracer was found to demarcate areas with high aldosterone synthase expression levels in human adrenal tissue with high specificity.

With the aim to evaluate the potential of AldoView for non-invasive, image-derived enzymatic lateralization of aldosterone production by the adrenal gland/s with PET, first in human imaging studies will commence in the close future.