Your Donations in Action: Krister J. Barkovich, MD, PhD

Despite advances in our understanding of cancer, clinical adoption of many promising cancer therapies is challenged by poor efficacy, toxicity and off-target effects which may result from imprecise delivery of the therapeutics to the intended tissue or organ.

There is increasing research into the use of nanomaterials to accomplish the task of targeted delivery of chemotherapeutics, synthetic nucleic acids, and imaging reagents.

For his 2022 Bracco Diagnostics Inc./RSNA Research Resident Grant project, “Developing a Novel Tumor-Targeting Dual NIRF/MRI Imaging Nanoparticle for Longitudinal Molecular Cancer Imaging,” Krister J. Barkovich, MD, PhD, radiology resident at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and colleagues investigated the use of a plant virus-like particle (VLP) derived from the Physalis mottle virus (PhMV) to aid therapeutic and imaging[1]reagent targeting.

Cancer often grows through angiogenesis, which is rare in healthy adults and primarily happens in tumors or injured tissues. According to the researchers, peptides with an arginine-glycine-aspartate (RGD) pattern attach strongly to certain proteins found on blood vessel cells in tumors and can help target VLPs directly to tumors.

“We demonstrate that iRGD-PhMV shows promising in vivo characteristics through increased uptake in a murine flank xenograft model of cancer,” Dr. Barkovich said. “We also demonstrate that these VLPs can be used to increase tumor-uptake of intravenous chemotherapeutics to increased anti-tumoral efficacy.”

Dr. Barkovich and colleagues also created new versions of the nanoparticles and added a special compound to improve tumor imaging with MRI.

Two publications have resulted from the work thus far. The team anticipates that the findings could deliver benefits in improved drug delivery, adaptable design to target different cancer-specific features and better imaging tools for identifying and tracking tumors.

Funding from the R&E Foundation provided Dr. Barkovich support for formal scientific training and professional development as a radiology resident. It also helped him increase visibility and improve communication skills.

“Funding from the R&E Foundation was invaluable for allowing me to continue this research as a resident and advance my dream of running a lab as an academic radiologist,” he said.

For More Information

Learn more about R&E Foundation funding opportunities.

Read our previous Your Donations in Action story.