Markus Mitterhauser

Medical University of Vienna | MedUni Vienna

Background Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) enzymes are crucial for the repair of DNA single-strand breaks and have become key therapeutic targets in homologous recombination-deficient cancers, including prostate cancer. To enable non-invasive monitoring of PARP-1 expression, several PARP-1-targeting positron emission tomography (PET) tracers ha...

Background Patient-derived tumour organoids (PDOs) are highly advanced in vitro models for disease modelling, yet they lack vascularisation. To overcome this shortcoming, organoids can be inoculated onto the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM); the highly vascularised, not innervated extraembryonic membrane of fertilised chicken eggs. Therefore, we aime...

BOLD-100 (formerly IT-139, KP1339), a well-established chemotherapeutic agent, is currently investigated in clinical trials for the treatment of gastric, pancreatic, colorectal, and bile duct cancer. Despite numerous studies, the exact...

In vitro therapeutic efficacy studies are commonly conducted in cell monolayers. However, three-dimensional (3D) tumor spheroids are known to better represent in vivo tumors. This study used [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-I&T, an already clinically applied radiopharmaceutical for targeted radionuclide therapy against metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer,...

[177Lu]Lu-PSMAI&T is widely used for the radioligand therapy of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). Since this kind of therapy has gained a large momentum in recent years, an upscaled production process yielding multiple patient doses in one batch has been developed. During upscaling, the established production method as well a...

The first-in-class ruthenium-based chemotherapeutic agent BOLD-100 (formerly IT-139, NKP-1339, KP1339) is currently the subject of clinical evaluation for the treatment of gastric, pancreatic, colorectal and bile duct cancer. A radiolabeled version of the compound could present a helpful diagnostic tool. Thus, this study investigated the pharmacoki...

Background Prostate cancer (PrC) is the fourth most prevalent type of cancer worldwide. Its high incidence and 5-year survival rates contributing to high inpatient care costs make it an important public health issue. In Austria, surgery has been the most common inpatient procedure for PrC, despite clinical recommendations not clearly indicating its...

Studies indicate that the radiotracer 2-[¹⁸F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-[¹⁸F]FDG) can be metabolized beyond 2-[¹⁸F]FDG-6-phosphate (2-[¹⁸F]FDG-6-P), but its metabolism is incompletely understood. Most importantly, it remains unclear whether downstream metabolism affects tracer accumulation in vivo. Here we present a fingerprint of 2-[¹⁸F]FDG radio...

Fluorinated carbohydrates are important tools for understanding the deregulation of metabolic fluxes and pathways. Fluorinating specific positions within the sugar scaffold can lead to enhanced metabolic stability and subsequent metabolic trapping in cells. This principle has, however, never been applied to study the metabolism of the rare sugars o...

To investigate the use of kinetic parameters derived from direct Patlak reconstructions of [68Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) to predict the histological grade of malignancy of the primary tumor of patients with prostate cancer (PCa). Thirteen patients (mean age 66 ± 10 years) with a primary, therapy-naïve PC...

Fluorinated carbohydrates are valuable tools for enzymological studies due to their increased metabolic stability compared to their non‐fluorinated analogues. Replacing different hydroxyl groups within the same monosaccharide by fluorine allows to influence a wide range of sugar–receptor interactions and enzymatic transformations. In the past, this...

Background & aims: Patient-derived organoid cancer models are generated from epithelial tumor cells and reflect tumor characteristics. However, they lack the complexity of the tumor microenvironment, which is a key driver of tumorigenesis and therapy response. Here, we developed a colorectal cancer organoid model that incorporates matched epitheli...

Introduction Amino-acid positron emission tomography (PET) is a validated metabolic imaging approach for the diagnostic work-up of gliomas. This study aimed to evaluate sex-specific radiomic characteristics of L-[S-methyl- ¹¹ Cmethionine (MET)-PET images of glioma patients in consideration of the prognostically relevant biomarker isocitrate dehydro...

Theta-burst stimulation (TBS) represents a brain stimulation technique effective for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) as underlined by meta-analyses. While the methodology undergoes constant refinement, bilateral stimulation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) appears promising to restore left DLPFC hypoactivity and right hyperactivit...

Rationale: The present study set out to investigate if PET imaging can be used as a potential substitute for immunohistochemical analysis of tumor samples in prostate cancer (PC) patients. Correlation between imaging signals of two PET tracers and the corresponding target structures was assessed. The first tracer was [68Ga]Ga-PSMAHBED-CC([68Ga]PSMA...

Radiation therapy is one of the most effective tools in cancer therapy. However, success varies individually, necessitating improved understanding of radiobiology. Three-dimensional (3D) tumor spheroids are increasingly gaining attention, being a superior in vitro cancer model compared to 2D cell cultures. This in vitro study aimed at comparing rad...

Colorectal cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Increased expression of CXCR4 has been associated with liver metastasis, disease progression, and shortened survival. Using in vitro cell binding studies and the in ovo model, we aimed to investigate the potential of [68Ga]Ga-Pentixafor, a radiotracer specifically ta...

Objective: [177Lu]Lu-PSMA radioligand therapy (PSMA-RLT) is a promising therapy for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) and offers a survival benefit particularly to patients with only lymph node metastases. We therefore sought to evaluate the clinical outcome of this therapy in such a cohort. Methods: Of all pr...

Background The NMDA receptor (NMDAR) plays a key role in the central nervous system, e.g., for synaptic transmission. While synaptic NMDARs are thought to have protective characteristics, activation of extrasynaptic NMDARs might trigger excitotoxic processes linked to neuropsychiatric disorders. Since extrasynaptic NMDARs are typically GluN2B-enric...

Sympathetic nerve denervation after myocardial infarction (MI) predicts risk of sudden cardiac death. Therefore, therapeutic approaches limit infarct size, improving adverse remodeling and restores sympathetic innervation have a great clinical potential. Remote ischemic perconditioning (RIPerc) could markedly attenuate MI-reperfusion (MIR) injury....

Tissue available for retrospective research questions is often already paraffin-embedded for better preservation. However, in vitro autoradiography (AURA) is normally performed on cryopreserved tissue sections. We hypothesized a) that it would also be feasible with deparaffinized tissue sections, enabling the use of human paraffin-embedded tissue f...

6-[¹⁸F]Fluorodopamine (6-[¹⁸F]FDA) proved valuable as a diagnostic tool for neuroendocrine and rare tumors, such as ganglioneuromas and pheochromocytomas, however, clinical application is still limited. So far, its radiosyntheses were impeded by the formation of side-products, low molar activity, multi-step reactions and the use of challenging prec...

Background Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) targeted molecular imaging using positron emission tomography (PET) has significantly improved the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer (PCA). Objective To assess the feasibility and compare the diagnostic accuracy of [⁶⁸Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 PET images taken at baseline, before the initiation of...

Ziel/Aim Zyklotrone bilden als Ressource medizinischer Radionuklide eine zentrale Infrastruktur für die Entwicklung neuer und die Produktion klinisch etablierter Radiotracer zur molekularen Hybridbildgebung. Da die letzte breite Veröffentlichung zu Zyklotronen ca. 15 Jahre alt ist [1], wurde ein Update zu den für die Nuklearmedizin und Radiopharmaz...

Background: Cyclotrons form a central infrastructure and are a resource of medical radionuclides for the development of new radiotracers as well as the production and supply of clinically established radiopharmaceuticals for patient care in nuclear medicine. Aim: To provide an updated overview of the number and characteristics of cyclotrons that a...

Patient-derived organoid (PDO) cancer models are generated from epithelial tumor cells. Although they reflect the molecular tumor characteristics, they lack the complexity of the tumor microenvironment, which is a key driver of tumorigenesis and therapy response. Here, we present a colorectal cancer (CRC) organoid model that incorporates epithelial...

Simultaneous characterization of pathologies by multi-tracer positron emission tomography (PET) is among the most promising applications in nuclear medicine. Aim of this work was the simultaneous production of two PET-tracers in one module and test the relevance for human application. [11C]harmine and [11C]DASB were concurrently synthesized in a ‘t...

Theta-burst stimulation (TBS) represents a brain stimulation technique effective for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) as underlined by meta-analyses. While the methodology undergoes constant refinement, bilateral stimulation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) appears promising to restore left DLPFC hypoactivity and right hyperactivit...

Personalized treatment of cancer patients demands specific and validated biomarkers for tumor diagnosis and therapy. The development and validation of such require translational preclinical models that recapitulate human diseases as accurately as possible. Moreover, there is a need for convergence of different (pre)clinical disciplines that openly...

Co-producing scientific research with those who are affected by it is an emerging phenomenon in contemporary science. This article summarizes and reflects on both the process and outcome of a novel experiment to co-develop scientific research proposals in the field of Open Innovation in Science (OIS), wherein scholars engaged in the study of open a...

Background Multiple potential interventions have been tested to protect the heart against myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (MIR) injury. Remote ischemic conditioning (RIC), an endogenous cardioprotective approach, could markedly improve cardiac function post-myocardial ischemia injury. In this study, we aimed to assess the effects of RIC on cardiac...

Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) have transformed the management of various cancers. Serious and potentially fatal cardiovascular toxicity, as well as a progression of atherosclerosis, have been described, mainly in elderly and comorbid patients. Methods: We investigated 117 arterial segments of 12 young (under 50 years of age), other...

Background: [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 radioligand therapy (PSMA-RLT) could affect kidney and salivary gland functions in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed clinical, renal, and salivary scintigraphy data and salivary [68Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 ligand PET scan measures such as metabolic volume an...

The glucose derivative 2-[18F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-[18F]FDG) is still the most used radiotracer for positron emission tomography, as it visualizes glucose utilization and energy demand. In general, 2-[18F]FDG is said to be trapped intracellularly as 2-[18F]FDG-6-phosphate, which cannot be further metabolized. However, increasingly, this dogm...

An elemental function of brain dopamine is to coordinate cognitive and motor resources for successful exploitation of environmental energy sources. Dopamine transmission, goal-directed behavior, and glucose homeostasis are altered in schizophrenia patients prior to and after initiation of pharmacological treatment. Thus, we investigated the relatio...

Initial reports of a clinical response in patients treated with the radioligand [¹⁷⁷Lu]-PSMA-617 for castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) are promising, despite known inter- and intrapatient heterogeneity. In metastatic CRPC, we examined the association of baseline immunohistochemical (IHC) expression of prostate-specific membrane antigen (P...

Apart from its expression in benign and malignant prostate tissue, prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) was shown to be expressed specifically in the neovasculature of solid tumors. For gliomas only little information exists. Therefore, we aimed to correlate PSMA expression in gliomas to tumor metabolism by L-[S-methyl-11C]methionine (MET) PET...

Tumor vasculature and angiogenesis play a crucial role in tumor progression. Their visualization is therefore of utmost importance to the community. In this proof-of-principle study, we have established a novel cross-modality imaging (CMI) pipeline to characterize exactly the same murine tumors across scales and penetration depths, using orthotopic...

To evaluate the differential impact of postoperative radiotherapy (RT) on recurrence patterns in patients treated with radical prostatectomy (RP) using [⁶⁸Ga]Ga-PSMAHBED-CC conjugate 11 positron emission tomography (PSMA 11-PET). We assessed 162 consecutive patients who experienced biochemical recurrence (BCR) after RP for nonmetastatic prostate ca...

PurposeRisk classification of primary prostate cancer in clinical routine is mainly based on prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels, Gleason scores from biopsy samples, and tumor-nodes-metastasis (TNM) staging. This study aimed to investigate the diagnostic performance of positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (PET/MRI) in vivo mod...

Zusammenfassung Die zentralen Aufgaben der experimentellen Nuklearmedizin liegen in der Entwicklung neuer Bildgebungsstrategien und Radioligandentherapien, in dem Erwerb eines tiefen molekularen Verständnisses für das Verhalten etablierter Radiopharmaka und der Entwicklung entsprechender Methodik für die Charakterisierung eben dieser. Die folgende...

Background: We investigated the response rate and degree of toxicity of a second course of three cycles of [177Lu]Lu-PSMA radioligand therapy (PSMA-RLT) every 4 weeks in mCRPC patients. Methods: Forty-three men (71.5 ± 6.6 years, median PSA 40.8 (0.87-1358 µg/L)) were studied. The response was based on the PSA level 4 weeks after the third cycle...

Background and aims [¹⁷⁷Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 radioligand therapy (PSMA-RLT) is a new therapy for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). However, identification of reliable prognostic factors is hampered by heterogeneous treatment regimens applied in previous studies. Hence, we sought clinical factors able to predict respon...

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder with a robust genetic influence. The norepinephrine transporter (NET) is of particular interest as it is one of the main targets in treatment of the disorder. As ADHD is a complex and polygenetic condition, the possible regulation by epigenetic processes has rec...

Although extensive research on brown adipose tissue (BAT) has stimulated optimism in the battle against obesity and diabetes, BAT physiology and organ crosstalk are not fully understood. Besides BAT, melanin‐concentrating hormone (MCH) and its receptor (MCHR1) play an important role in energy homeostasis. Because of the link between hypothalamic MC...

Ectopic lipid accumulation in skeletal muscle and liver drives the pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus type 2 (DMT2). Mild hyperbilirubinaemia has been repeatedly suggested to play a role in the prevention of DMT2 and is known for its capacity to shape an improved lipid phenotype in humans and in animals. To date, the effect of bilirubin on lipid acc...

This novel smoothing approach for brain imaging data aims at combining the advantages of surface-based methods (as e.g. used in FreeSurfer) and anatomy-unaware volumetric smoothing (as e.g. in SPM)

Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) remains a key approach in the treatment of prostate cancer (PCa). However, PCa inevitably relapses and becomes ADT resistant. Besides androgens, there is evidence that thyroid hormone thyroxine (T4) and its active form 3,5,3′‐triiodo‐l‐thyronine (T3) are involved in the progression of PCa. Epidemiologic evidences...

Background Cardiac positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (PET/MRI) can assess various cardiovascular diseases. In this study, we intra-individually compared right (RV) and left ventricular (LV) parameters obtained from dual-tracer PET/MRI scan. Methods In 22 patients with coronary heart disease (69 ± 9 years) dynamic [ ¹³ N]NH 3...

Open access post mortem transcriptome atlases such as the Allen Human Brain Atlas (AHBA) can inform us about mRNA expression of numerous proteins of interest across the whole brain, while in vivo protein binding in the human brain can be quantified by means of neuroreceptor positron emission tomography (PET). By combining both modalities, the assoc...

Objective The pancreatic uptake of [11C]methionine ([11C]MET) is associated with beta-cell function and insulin secretion, but [11C]MET uptake and its relationship with exocrine pancreatic performance are less well studied. The postprandial release of cholecystokinin (CCK) depends on gastric emptying velocity and triggers exocrine pancreas secretio...

Supported by their involvement in many neurodegenerative disorders, muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs) are an interesting target for PET imaging. Nevertheless, no radiotracer is established in clinical routine. Within this work we aim to develop novel PET tracers based on the structure of arecoline. Fifteen novel arecoline derivatives were...

The organometallic technetium-99m tricarbonyl core, [99mTc][Tc(CO)3(H2O)3]+, is a versatile precursor for the development of radiotracers for single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). A drawback of the 99mTc-tricarbonyl core is its lipophilicity, which can influence the pharmacokinetic properties of the SPECT imaging probe. Addition of po...

Serotonin neurotransmission may impact the etiology and pathology of attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), partly mediated through single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). We propose a multivariate, genetic and positron emission tomography (PET) imaging classification model for ADHD and healthy controls (HC). Sixteen patients with ADH...

Previous evidence indicates that transcranial direct stimulation (tDCS) is a neuromodulatory brain stimulation technique. Easy applicability, low side-effects and negligible costs facilitated its wide–spread application in efforts to modulate brain function, however neuronal mechanisms of tDCS are insufficiently understood. Hence, we investigated t...