Investigation of production of the therapeutic radioisotope 165Er by proton induced reactions on erbium in comparison with other production routes

Cross-section measurement of thulium radioisotopes with an 18 MeV medical PET cyclotron for an optimized 165Er production

165Er is a pure Auger-electron emitter with promising characteristics for therapeutic applications in nuclear medicine. The short penetration path and high Linear Energy Transfer (LET) of the emitted Auger electrons make 165Er particularly suitable for treating small tumor metastases. Several production methods based on the irradiation with charged particles of Er and Ho targets can be found in the literature. In this paper, we report on the study of 165Er indirect production performed via the 166Er(p,2n)165Tm →165Er reaction at the 18 MeV Bern medical cyclotron. Despite the use of highly enriched 166Er2O3 targets, several Tm radioisotopes are produced during the irradiation, making the knowledge of the cross sections involved crucial. For this reason, a precise investigation of the cross sections of the relevant nuclear reactions in the energy range of interest was performed by irradiating Er2O3 targets with different isotopic enrichment levels and using a method based on the inversion of a linear system of equations. For the reactions 164Er(p, γ)165Tm, 166Er(p,n)166Tm, 166Er(p, γ)167Tm, 167Er(p,3n)165Tm, 167Er(p, γ)168Tm, 168Er(p,2n)167Tm and 170Er(p,3n)168Tm, the nuclear cross section was measured for the first time. From the results obtained, the production yield and purity of the parent radioisotope 165Tm were calculated to assess the optimal irradiation conditions. Several production tests with solid targets were performed to confirm these findings.

Cutting edge rare earth radiometals: prospects for cancer theranostics

Background

With recent advances in novel approaches to cancer therapy and imaging, the application of theranostic techniques in personalised medicine has emerged as a very promising avenue of research inquiry in recent years. Interest has been directed towards the theranostic potential of Rare Earth radiometals due to their closely related chemical properties which allow for their facile and interchangeable incorporation into identical bifunctional chelators or targeting biomolecules for use in a diverse range of cancer imaging and therapeutic applications without additional modification, i.e. a “one-size-fits-all” approach. This review will focus on recent progress and innovations in the area of Rare Earth radionuclides for theranostic applications by providing a detailed snapshot of their current state of production by means of nuclear reactions, subsequent promising theranostic capabilities in the clinic, as well as a discussion of factors that have impacted upon their progress through the theranostic drug development pipeline.

Main body

In light of this interest, a great deal of research has also been focussed towards certain under-utilised Rare Earth radionuclides with diverse and favourable decay characteristics which span the broad spectrum of most cancer imaging and therapeutic applications, with potential nuclides suitable for α-therapy (¹⁴⁹Tb), β⁻-therapy (⁴⁷Sc, ¹⁶¹Tb, ¹⁶⁶Ho, ¹⁵³Sm, ¹⁶⁹Er, ¹⁴⁹Pm, ¹⁴³Pr, ¹⁷⁰Tm), Auger electron (AE) therapy (¹⁶¹Tb, ¹³⁵La, ¹⁶⁵Er), positron emission tomography (⁴³Sc, ⁴⁴Sc, ¹⁴⁹Tb, ¹⁵²Tb, ¹³²La, ¹³³La), and single photon emission computed tomography (⁴⁷Sc, ¹⁵⁵Tb, ¹⁵²Tb, ¹⁶¹Tb, ¹⁶⁶Ho, ¹⁵³Sm, ¹⁴⁹Pm, ¹⁷⁰Tm). For a number of the aforementioned radionuclides, their progression from ‘bench to bedside’ has been hamstrung by lack of availability due to production and purification methods requiring further optimisation.

Conclusions

In order to exploit the potential of these radionuclides, reliable and economical production and purification methods that provide the desired radionuclides in high yield and purity are required. With more reactors around the world being decommissioned in future, solutions to radionuclide production issues will likely be found in a greater focus on linear accelerator and cyclotron infrastructure and production methods, as well as mass separation methods. Recent progress towards the optimisation of these and other radionuclide production and purification methods has increased the feasibility of utilising Rare Earth radiometals in both preclinical and clinical settings, thereby placing them at the forefront of radiometals research for cancer theranostics.

A High Separation Factor for 165Er from Ho for Targeted Radionuclide Therapy

Background: Radionuclides emitting Auger electrons (AEs) with low (0.02–50 keV) energy, short (0.0007–40 µm) range, and high (1–10 keV/µm) linear energy transfer may have an important role in the targeted radionuclide therapy of metastatic and disseminated disease. Erbium-165 is a pure AE-emitting radionuclide that is chemically matched to clinical therapeutic radionuclide ¹⁷⁷Lu, making it a useful tool for fundamental studies on the biological effects of AEs. This work develops new biomedical cyclotron irradiation and radiochemical isolation methods to produce ¹⁶⁵Er suitable for targeted radionuclide therapeutic studies and characterizes a new such agent targeting prostate-specific membrane antigen. Methods: Biomedical cyclotrons proton-irradiated spot-welded Ho_(m) targets to produce ¹⁶⁵Er, which was isolated via cation exchange chromatography (AG 50W-X8, 200–400 mesh, 20 mL) using alpha-hydroxyisobutyrate (70 mM, pH 4.7) followed by LN2 (20–50 µm, 1.3 mL) and bDGA (50–100 µm, 0.2 mL) extraction chromatography. The purified ¹⁶⁵Er was radiolabeled with standard radiometal chelators and used to produce and characterize a new AE-emitting radiopharmaceutical, [¹⁶⁵Er]PSMA-617. Results: Irradiation of 80–180 mg ^natHo targets with 40 µA of 11–12.5 MeV protons produced ¹⁶⁵Er at 20–30 MBq·µA⁻¹·h⁻¹. The 4.9 ± 0.7 h radiochemical isolation yielded ¹⁶⁵Er in 0.01 M HCl (400 µL) with decay-corrected (DC) yield of 64 ± 2% and a Ho/¹⁶⁵Er separation factor of (2.8 ± 1.1) · 10⁵. Radiolabeling experiments synthesized [¹⁶⁵Er]PSMA-617 at DC molar activities of 37–130 GBq·µmol⁻¹. Conclusions: A 2 h biomedical cyclotron irradiation and 5 h radiochemical separation produced GBq-scale ¹⁶⁵Er suitable for producing radiopharmaceuticals at molar activities satisfactory for investigations of targeted radionuclide therapeutics. This will enable fundamental radiation biology experiments of pure AE-emitting therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals such as [¹⁶⁵Er]PSMA-617, which will be used to understand the impact of AEs in PSMA-targeted radionuclide therapy of prostate cancer.

Experimental study of α-particle induced reactions on natural erbium for the production of Auger-emitters 167Tm, 165Er and 169Yb

The cross sections for nuclear reactions ^natEr(α,x) were measured in the energy range 60 → 10 MeV using the stacked-foil technique. The experiments were carried out in a wider energy range in comparison with previous works. The results are consistent with other studies and modeling using TENDL-2019. The ¹⁶⁷Tm yield was 5.4 MBq/μAh in the range 60 → 30 MeV, and the main long-lived impurity is ¹⁶⁸Tm (0.78% in terms of activity). The ¹⁶⁵Tm yield is 4.6 MBq/μAh (60 → 40 MeV). ¹⁶⁹Yb is formed with a yield of 1.0 MBq/μAh in the energy range 60 → 20 MeV.

Study of activation cross sections of deuteron induced reactions on erbium in the 32-50MeV energy range

Activation cross sections of the ^natEr(d,x)^{163,165,166,167,168,170}Tm and ^natEr(d,x)^171,161Er nuclear reactions have been measured in the 32-50MeV energy range, above 40MeV for the first time. The activation method with stacked foil irradiation technique and gamma-ray spectroscopy were used. The experimental cross sections were compared with the theoretical predictions in the TENDL-2015 library.

Medical Radioisotope Production in a Power-Flattened ADS Fuelled with Uranium and Plutonium Dioxides

This study presents the medical radioisotope production performance of a conceptual accelerator driven system (ADS). Lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) is selected as target material. The subcritical fuel core is conceptually divided into ten equidistant subzones. The ceramic (natural U, Pu)O2fuel mixture and the materials used for radioisotope production (copper, gold, cobalt, holmium, rhenium, thulium, mercury, palladium, thallium, molybdenum, and yttrium) are separately prepared as cylindrical rods cladded with carbon/carbon composite (C/C) and these rods are located in the subzones. In order to obtain the flattened power density, percentages of PuO2in the mixture of UO2and PuO2in the subzones are adjusted in radial direction of the fuel zone. Time-dependent calculations are performed at 1000 MW thermal fission power (Pth) for one hour using the BURN card. The neutronic results show that the investigated ADS has a high neutronic capability, in terms of medical radioisotope productions, spent fuel transmutation and energy multiplication. Moreover, a good quasiuniform power density is achieved in each material case. The peak-to-average fission power density ratio is in the range of 1.02–1.28.

New trends in nuclear data research for medical radionuclide production

Nuclear reaction cross section data are of great significance in optimisation of production routes of radionuclides. This article deals with some newer aspects of data research related to production of both standard and novel radionuclides. The recent work to standardise the known data is discussed and new measurements with regard to further optimisation of production routes of some commonly used radionuclides are mentioned. Attempts to increase the specific activity of some reactor-produced radionuclides through the use of charged-particle induced reactions are outlined. The jeopardy in the supply of99mTcviaa fission-produced99Mo/99mTc generator is considered and its possible direct production at a cyclotron is briefly discussed. Regarding the novel radionuclides, development work is presently focussed on non-standard positron emitters for diagnosis and on low-range highly ionising radiation emitters for internal radiotherapy. Recent nuclear reaction cross section measurements related to the production of the two types of radionuclides are briefly reviewed and some anticipated trends in nuclear data research are considered.

Internal radiotherapy techniques using radiolanthanide praseodymium-142: a review of production routes, brachytherapy, unsealed source therapy

Radionuclides of rare earth elements are gaining importance as emerging therapeutic agents in nuclear medicine. β(-)-particle emitter 142Pr [T (1/2) = 19.12 h, E(-)β = 2.162 MeV (96.3%), Eγ = 1575 keV (3.7%)] is one of the praseodymium-141 (100% abundant) radioisotopes. Production routes and therapy aspects of 142Pr will be reviewed in this paper. However, 142Pr produces via 141Pr(n, γ) 142Pr reaction by irradiation in a low-fluence reactor; 142Pr cyclotron produced, could be achievable. 142Pr due to its high β(-)-emission and low specific gamma γ-emission could not only be a therapeutic radionuclide, but also a suitable radionuclide in order for biodistribution studies. Internal radiotherapy using 142Pr can be classified into two sub-categories: (1) unsealed source therapy (UST), (2) brachytherapy. UST via 142Pr-HA and 142Pr-DTPA in order for radiosynovectomy have been proposed. In addition, 142Pr Glass seeds and 142Pr microspheres have been utilized for interstitial brachytherapy of prostate cancer and intraarterial brachytherapy of arteriovenous malformation, respectively.