Targeted Radiotherapeutics from 'Bench-to-Bedside'

Authors

  • Cristina Müller Center for Radiopharmaceutical Sciences, Forschungsstrasse 111, Paul Scherrer Institute, CH-5232 Villigen-PSI, Switzerland
  • Martin Béhé Center for Radiopharmaceutical Sciences, Forschungsstrasse 111, Paul Scherrer Institute, CH-5232 Villigen-PSI, Switzerland
  • Susanne Geistlich Center for Radiopharmaceutical Sciences, Forschungsstrasse 111, Paul Scherrer Institute, CH-5232 Villigen-PSI, Switzerland
  • Nicholas P. van der Meulen Center for Radiopharmaceutical Sciences, Forschungsstrasse 111, Paul Scherrer Institute, CH-5232 Villigen-PSI, Switzerland; Laboratory of Radiochemistry, Forschungsstrasse 111, Paul Scherrer Institute, CH-5232 Villigen-PSI, Switzerland
  • Roger Schibli Center for Radiopharmaceutical Sciences, Forschungsstrasse 111, Paul Scherrer Institute, CH-5232 Villigen-PSI, Switzerland; Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zurich, Vladimir-Prolog-Weg 1-5/10, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland;, Email: roger.schibli@psi.ch

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2533/chimia.2020.939

PMID:

33357286

Keywords:

Folate, Psma, Minigastrin, Radiopharmacy, Targeted radionuclide therapy, Terbium radionuclides, Theragnostics

Abstract

The concept of targeted radionuclide therapy (TRT) is the accurate and efficient delivery of radiation to disseminated cancer lesions while minimizing damage to healthy tissue and organs. Critical aspects for successful development of novel radiopharmaceuticals for TRT are: i) the identification and characterization of suitable targets expressed on cancer cells; ii) the selection of chemical or biological molecules which exhibit high affinity and selectivity for the cancer cell-associated target; iii) the selection of a radionuclide with decay properties that suit the properties of the targeting molecule and the clinical purpose. The Center for Radiopharmaceutical Sciences (CRS) at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland is privileged to be situated close to unique infrastructure for radionuclide production (high energy accelerators and a neutron source) and access to C/B-type laboratories including preclinical, nuclear imaging equipment and Swissmedic-certified laboratories for the preparation of drug samples for human use. These favorable circumstances allow production of non-standard radionuclides, exploring their biochemical and pharmacological features and effects for tumor therapy and diagnosis, while investigating and characterizing new targeting structures and optimizing these aspects for translational research on radiopharmaceuticals. In close collaboration with various clinical partners in Switzerland, the most promising candidates are translated to clinics for 'first-in-human' studies. This article gives an overview of the research activities at CRS in the field of TRT by the presentation of a few selected projects.

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Published

2020-12-23

How to Cite

[1]
C. Müller, M. Béhé, S. Geistlich, N. P. van der Meulen, R. Schibli, Chimia 2020, 74, 939, DOI: 10.2533/chimia.2020.939.