Targeted Alpha Therapy

Targeted Alpha Therapy is becoming a hot topic in the world of nuclear medicine.  This therapy will allow for cancer cells to be "spot treated" by alpha emitting particle attachment to monoclonal antibodies.  Currently researching this new technique is the University of Gothenburg.  They have performed studies to determine alpha particle affects at the cellular level and different radionuclide labeling.  The chosen test subject for the experiment were nine mice, all with microscopic ovarian cancer.   Mice were infused with different volumes of At-MX35F (combination of radionuclide At, from Bismuth via cyclotron, and antibody MX35)  via the peritoneal catheter.  For a period of 48 hours following the treatment the mice were analyzed regularly with Tc-99m and a gamma camera to diagnose the tumors activity.  No toxicity was seen in the mice after treatment.  White blood cell counts were monitored for several months after the treatment and no alarming levels were reported.  Another check up at 23 months was given and no toxic levels were reported.  The conclusion of this research shows that intraperitoneal administration of At-MX 35F is non-toxic effective form of cancer therapy.  Since this was only the first trial, a max dose has not been reported.

This article struck me as interesting because I was just finishing up my presentation on radiopharmaceuticals for pharmacology and I started to look at new research.  I started to look more into TAT and found that this is exactly what I was doing this past summer.  We were attempting to attach radioactive nanoparticles to mouse antibodies for treatment of breast and brain cancer. 

article website: http://www.tat.gu.se/digitalAssets/1331/1331693_anderson-et-al-2009.pdf