A new King's College London study introduces a brand-new imaging tracer that looks at how tumours use fats to fuel their growth.
The human body uses a variety of nutrient sources to provide the energy we need for everyday life. When disease occurs — such as heart disease or cancer — the types of nutrients that affected tissues depend on can change.
In their recent study , researchers in the Witney Lab developed an innovative imaging tracer capable of identifying shifts in how our body uses fats for energy. Carnitine is a molecule that is essential for transporting fatty acids into the mitochondria to supply the cell with energy. By labelling carnitine with a radioactive tag, the team has, for the first time, revealed its role in energy production within living organisms.
The study's co-first authors are Richard Edwards, former Research Fellow in the School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, and Ella-May Hards, former PhD student in the Witney Lab led by Prof. Tim Witney.
The study was selected as the cover article for Advanced Science, the high impact, peer reviewed, open access journal published by WileyVCH.
Professor Tim Witney, Professor of Molecular Imaging, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences said: "Using this novel tracer, we can look at carnitine metabolism in living subjects for the very first time. Understanding how the body uses different fuel types, both in health and across a range of diseases, could enable the development of new metabolic drugs and help us optimise healthy living. Being featured on the front cover of Advanced Science reflects the hard and innovative work of Dr Rich Edwards, Dr Ella-May Hards, and co-authors."
This new tracer can be applied broadly across numerous physiological and disease-related contexts. It is widely known that cancer cells consume large amounts of glucose, but using the tracer, the team have shown that some highly aggressive cancers also rely on lipids as an energy source. This discovery could influence how metabolic pathways are targeted for therapeutic intervention.
The study also highlights that carnitine levels are disrupted in various cardiac conditions, and detecting these metabolic shifts earlier could support quicker treatment and better patient outcomes. Beyond disease settings, the tracer may also offer insights into energy use in athletes and how supplements like carnitine could enhance metabolic performance.
