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University of California-Los Angeles researchers modified a common chemotherapy drug to create the new probe for Positron Emission Tomography, or PET, scanning. They said their achievement will allow the monitoring of a person's immune system at the whole body level in three dimensions as the immune system tries to fight cancer or when it goes awry, as it does in autoimmune diseases.

"This is not a cure or a new treatment but it will help us to more effectively model and measure the immune system", said Dr. Owen Witte, the study's senior author and director of the Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA. "Monitoring immune function using molecular imaging could significantly impact the diagnosis and treatment evaluation of immunological disorders, as well as evaluating whether certain therapies are effective."

The PET scanner was invented by UCLA's Michael Phelps, who is a co-author of the study.

The research is published in the early online edition of the journal Nature Medicine.

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