Nuclear medicine: targeted alpha therapy study of brain tumours receives Marie Curie Award 2016

The paper describes the results of a first-in-human study of targeted alpha therapy for secondary glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) tumour. Secondary GBM progresses from initially low-grade brain tumours and manifest mainly in younger patients. The median overall survival time in untreated patients with secondary GBM is 7.8 months, and 27 months in patients after standard therapy including surgery and radiotherapy. In the award winning study seven patients received a novel form of locoregional therapy using a radiopharmaceutical labelled with the alpha emitter bismuth-213 (see image). The treatment was well tolerated and median survival time increased to 47 months. These results indicate that targeted alpha therapy may evolve as promising novel option for therapy of secondary GBM.

PET/CT image after locoregional co-injection of 68-Gallium-/213-Bismuth-substance P for targeted alpha therapy illustrating the distribution of the radiopharmaceutical in the tumour.

©EU, 2016

Targeted alpha therapy (TAT) is taking advantage of the unique properties of alpha radiation, in particular its high energy of several mega-electronvolts (MeV) and its very short range in human tissue of less than 0.1 mm, corresponding to only a few cell diameters. Therefore TAT allows selective irradiation, killing tumour cells with minimal damage to surrounding healthy tissue. This precision is particularly critical in the treatment of brain tumours.

The annual meeting of the EANM is the largest conference in nuclear medicine and its 2016 edition was attended by more than 6000 participants. The newest developments in clinical, translational and fundamental nuclear medicine were presented in 130 sessions in Barcelona from October 15 through 19, 2016. The Marie Curie Award is given to the authors of the work which is, in terms of scientific quality, the best contribution at the annual EANM Congress. The full paper describing the study, titled “Secondary glioblastoma multiforme - local alpha emitters targeted therapy with 213Bi-DOTA-substance P”, will be published soon.

This is the second time a study co-authored by JRC scientists receives the EANM Marie Curie Award, following the 2008 award for a study on targeted alpha therapy of bladder carcinoma led by the Technical University Munich and JRC.

Background

Targeted alpha therapy is offering a new treatment option to cancer patients that are not responding to conventional treatments, including chemotherapy and therapy with beta emitters.

The JRC has participated in studies on the use of alpha emitters in cancer treatment since 1997, first in clinical studies on leukaemia, and later on non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, brain tumours, bladder carcinoma, malignant melanoma, neuroendocrine tumours and prostate cancer. The research has demonstrated the therapeutic efficacy and safety of using ²¹³Bismuth and ²²⁵Actinium.

The JRC is one of the only three institutions worldwide capable of producing the valuable alpha emitters in levels that are clinically relevant. The other two are Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the largest US Department of Energy science and energy laboratory and Russia’s Institute for Physics and Power Engineering (IPPE).