Dr Georgios Z. Papadakis, collaborating researcher of the Institute of Computer Science (ICS) of the Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH), had a major contribution on a study published on September 10th 2020, in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), in collaboration with scientists from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, USA. The NEJM is recognized as the world’s leading medical journal, since it holds the highest journal impact factor (74.699) of all general medical journals (2019 Journal Impact Factor, Journal Citation Reports, Source Clarivate, 2020).

The study reports on a targeted treatment of tumor-induced osteomalacia (TIO), which is a rare paraneoplastic syndrome caused by excessive secretion of fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) by a phosphaturic mesenchymal tumor. Excess of FGF23 via the fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1) signaling leads to decrease in renal phosphate reabsorption and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D production, resulting in hypophosphatemia with subsequent osteomalacia, bone pain, muscle weakness, and fractures. The study reports on the findings of a therapy targeting the FGFR1, revealing spectacular disease regression -during treatment - assessed both biochemically and by means of imaging using hybrid whole-body positron-emission tomography/ computed tomography (PET/CT) studies.

Dr Georgios Z. Papadakis is a nuclear medicine physician with expertise on the clinical and pre-clinical applications of PET-imaging, who is coordinating the molecular imaging program at ICS/FORTH and is holding an active ongoing collaboration with the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, USA.

The publication in the “New England Journal of Medicine”, can be found in the following link: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2020399