Early detection is an essential element in preventing the progression of diseases and maximizing treatment options. There are special examinations for chronic diseases that can diagnose the condition while there are still no signs or symptoms. Researchers at the University of Ottawa developed a new strategy for detecting various diseases.
Metabolic Fuel for Diseases
A simple carbohydrate type, glucose, plays an important role in energy consumption. In humans and other living organisms, carbohydrates and proteins break down into glucose, their primary metabolic fuel.
A vast majority of positron emission tomography (PET) imaging systems examine how the body utilizes a radioactive form of glucose for energy. Most cancers use glucose as a metabolic fuel, so they light up on glucose PET scans.
However, not all forms of cancer use glucose as fuel. In addition, some normal organs, such as the brain and heart, also use high amounts of glucose. This makes it hard for experts to identify some diseases from PET imaging.
A monosaccharide known as fructose has been increasingly recognized as a metabolic fuel for disease. Also called "fruit sugar," this common dietary sugar is naturally found in honey, fruits, and processed food.
Compared to glucose, fructose is not typically used for fuel by the healthy heart and brain since it appears mostly in healthy liver and kidneys. It has also been discovered that fructose metabolism is involved in various diseases, such as cancer, cardiac disorders, neurodegenerative disorders, and metabolic disorders.
In terms of fundamental and clinical investigation, scientists continue to study the use of fructose as an energy source during the start and progression of various diseases. They focus on inflammation-related energy crises, which activate a fructolytic state in the affected body tissues. However, since quantitative imaging radiotracer is limited, exploring fructose metabolism in pathology and diagnostic imaging is also hindered.
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New Radiotracer for Fructose Metabolism
To address this concern, scientists at the University of Ottawa developed a novel radiotracer called [18F]4-FDF, designed to map how cells use fructose for fuel. In the study "It's a Trap! Aldolase-Prescribed C4 Deoxyradiofluorination Affords Intracellular Trapping and the Tracing of Fructose Metabolism by PET," lead author Alexia Kirby and her colleagues used the radiotracer to identify the conditions where fructose is being used in the body.
The [18F]4-FDF compound consists of a carefully modified form of fructose, which incorporates radioactive fluorine atoms at a vital chemical position. This enabled the researchers to monitor where and how this sugar is metabolized in the body.
In this study, a PET camera was used for routine diagnostic imaging. It allowed observers to see increased fructose used by malfunctioning tissues and organs, offering early indications of inflammation.
This research is the first to show where fructose is used in the human body. Outside of the kidneys and the liver, its metabolism in any other organs may indicate serious health problems such as cancer and inflammation.
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